


Wouldn't It Be Nice?

by SillyMango



Category: DCU, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons)
Genre: Clothed Sex, Dirty Talk, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Hair-pulling, M/M, Oral Sex, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2018-08-10 22:58:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7864792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SillyMango/pseuds/SillyMango
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Between Wally’s angst about powers and Bruce’s angst about morality, they’ve more than enough problems to share. They aren’t sure where they’re heading with this fling of theirs, and aren’t even really sure what it is, but at least the sex is decent.</p>
<p>A PWP look at Wally and Bruce’s developing relationship through a bunch of smut and bit of feelings. Will get progressively smuttier and feelings-ier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title is from the Beach Boys song. 
> 
> This is set at some undetermined time in the JLU universe after Flash and Batman know each other's identities. There will probably be very little to no plot to this nor any close connection to canon. 
> 
> I'm writing this as I go and without a Beta reader. Comments and critiques are more than welcome.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

The wall was cold against Wally’s back. Bruce, however, was warm. Too warm. And close. Bruce covered Wally’s entire body, crowding him against the wall, his arms braced against either side of Wally’s head. Wally could smell Bruce, could feel the warmth radiating off of him, could feel his breath on his face. Wally wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch Bruce. He didn’t. Instead, his hands vibrated slightly against the wall. 

Wally’s gaze was locked onto Bruce’s neck, dimly illuminated by Bruce’s desk lamp — watched his Adam’s apple move as Bruce swallowed, watched as a bead of sweat rolled down the side. But Wally did not look Bruce in the eye. 

Then, Bruce’s breathing changed. Bruce leaned in closer towards Wally. Wally became overwhelmed by the warmth, the closeness. The slight vibrating moved up his arms. Bruce swallowed again. Their bodies were nearly touching now. 

Wally finally looked Bruce in the eye. 

Bruce was looking at Wally’s mouth. Wally shivered. Then, Bruce kissed him. 

Wally gasped against Bruce’s mouth. His mind short-fired. His hands stopped vibrating. He was entirely frozen in place. Bruce’s mouth worked slowly against Wally’s, his lips surprisingly soft, warm. The kiss was short — cautious. After a few seconds, Bruce pulled away. 

For a long moment, they gazed at one another. Bruce’s breathing was even, Wally’s wasn’t. Wally broke their gaze and focused on Bruce’s ear, anything to avoid looking at him in the eye again. Wally’s mind raced, trying to retrace, recreate every moment, every millisecond of the past minute. His mind replayed every breath, every sound, and the feeling of Bruce’s lips moving against his. Wally vaguely wondered if Bruce could hear his heartbeat in the vast silence of the bedroom. 

Wally looked back into Bruce’s eyes and decided to stop thinking. 

Wally’s arms shot up from their place against the wall, his hands landing on either side of Bruce’s face, moving a bit faster than what Bruce would consider a normal human speed. Wally paused for a fraction of a second to take in every detail of Bruce’s face that he could. Wally had never before considered Bruce to be pretty, but in the dim lamp-light, "pretty" was the only word Wally could think of. Sure, in photo shoots and tabloids Bruce Wayne would best be described as "handsome" or "beautiful"— both words that are not be used to describe Batman — but here in Bruce’s bedroom, standing so close to him that Wally could count the faint wrinkles around his eyes… Bruce was _pretty_. 

And his face was warm under Wally’s hands. Wally watched as Bruce’s expression turned softer, more unsure. Wally didn’t want to think about what that meant. He pulled Bruce’s face down towards his own and kissed him, firm and slow. Bruce kissed him back. Already, Wally could feel it rising within him. The want. The ache. Wally willed his hands not to vibrate on Bruce’s face and focused on kissing him. Bruce made a soft low sound then deepened the kiss. 

They eventually separated to catch their breaths. Wally’s hands slid down to rest on Bruce’s shoulders and he let out an airy almost-laugh. Bruce joined him. 

“You’re pretty,” Wally blurted out. 

Bruce paused. Then he laughed harder, “I think that should be my line.”

Wally felt a blush begin to creep up and dance across his face. The sound of Bruce’s laugh was warm and unexpected, and stirred a feeling within Wally he couldn’t place. One of Bruce’s hands dropped from its position on the wall to cup the side of Wally’s face. Wally made himself focus on the feeling of Bruce’s fingers carding through his hair. Bruce wore a soft warm smile — something Wally had never seen on him before, something Wally didn’t know Bruce was capable of. Then Wally realized he had never seen Batman smile a real smile. 

At that thought, Wally felt a pang of an emotion he couldn’t quite put a name to. He became hyper aware of their surroundings. Here they were, in the dead of night, making out in their pajamas like a couple of teenagers in Batman’s quarters in the middle of the Watchtower. And Batman looked almost… happy. Suddenly it all felt wrong. He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be in Batman’s room. He shouldn’t be the one Bruce smiles at like that. And he shouldn’t continue to kiss Batman as if everything was perfectly clear now. They needed to talk. 

“Bruce —”

As if reading Wally’s mind and trying to push away his thoughts, Bruce cupped the back of Wally’s head and kissed him deeply. 

Wally tried to ignore the ache. Wally melted into the kiss. Wally gently pushed Bruce away. 

“Bruce —” Wally tried to catch his breath “— Bruce, what are we doing?”

The softness in Bruce’s face, the warmth, the smile, the laughter, all faded and were immediately replaced with carefully crafted stone. Wally almost felt relieved. This was the face, the man, that Wally knew. 

“What do you mean?” asked Bruce. The voice was careful. Neutral. Batman. 

Wally wasn’t sure what he wanted to ask. “I mean… what are we doing here? What is… this?”

“Do you want to stop.”

Wally didn’t know. “I don’t know.”

Bruce pulled away from him. Wally’s arms returned dumbly back to his sides. 

A stray thought told Wally that he must have messed things up by talking, as per usual. 

What Wally didn’t expect to hear was, “I don’t know.” Seeing Wally’s expression, Bruce continued, “I don’t know, either. I don’t know what this is.” Some of the stoniness in his face softened. “But I don’t want to stop.”

Wally’s mind began racing again. He didn’t know how to ask Bruce why or how. And he wasn’t sure if he was ready for the answers. He also didn’t know how to tell Bruce that he didn’t know if he was ready for whatever this was. As his thoughts raced round and round, Wally realized his gaze was following the movement of Bruce’s fingers. Wally watched as Bruce ran his fingers through his own hair. Batman looked nervous. Wally almost laughed.

Bruce’s next words snapped Wally out of his thoughts. “I care about you, Flash.”

What was Wally supposed to say to that?

“I— I… Me, too.”

Probably not that.

But Bruce smiled again. And the ache returned.

There are times when Wally’s conscious mind didn’t quite go at the same speed as his body did. Sometimes he’d find himself slapping peanut butter on a piece of bread before he had even realized he wanted a sandwich. This was one of those times. Wally was kissing Bruce again before he had even realized he had moved. It took a moment for Bruce to kiss back but when he did, he groaned into it. Wally shivered against Bruce. A part of Wally told him that they should talk this out more and that Bruce probably wanted to talk, too. But maybe… maybe this could be alright. Maybe they didn’t have to know exactly what this was, yet. Maybe they could stay just like this. 

And, as Bruce navigated them across the room until Wally was falling backwards onto Bruce’s bed with Bruce landing heavily on top of him, Wally decided he was more than happy to stay right where he was. 

——

Bruce had Wally pinned to the bed, fingers gripping Wally’s hair as he slid languidly against him as they kissed. Wally’s own hands roamed all up Bruce’s biceps, his shoulder blades, down his sides, then back up. Wally relished in the feeling of being trapped under the weight of Bruce, of being pushed down hard into the mattress, of not being able to move. Wally decided that yes, yes he was most _definitely_ okay with where this was going. And Wally was struck by just how _big_ Bruce was, his arms, his legs, everything about him. His body entirely enveloped Wally’s own. His mind ran away with thoughts of Batman holding him down, of Batman tying him up and fucking him until he cried. Wally made an embarrassing noise against Bruce’s mouth. Bruce bit Wally’s in reply. 

When they finally pulled apart again to pant for breath, Bruce’s face was noticeably flushed. Wally scrambled to think of something funny to say, but Bruce rolled his hips and… _oh. Oh. Bruce was big there too._ Wally whimpered. Bruce’s face broke into a cocky smile that Wally should probably hit him for. He didn’t hit him. He did, however, vibrate in place beneath him. Bruce seemed to like that, his smile turning darker. 

“You alright, Flash?” He asked as he rolled his hips again in that same delicious way. Wally was sure he would have hit him he wasn’t so busy moaning beneath him. Bruce rolled his hips again. And again. And Wally couldn’t stop shaking, vibrating, moaning. And Bruce kept talking to him.

“Is this enough?” Batman’s voice was close to Wally’s ear, his breath tickling the side of Wally’s neck. “Can you come from just this?” He asked as he pressed against Wally harder. And he could. Wally knew he could.

When Wally didn’t answer, the grip in Wally’s hair tightened, causing him to moan at the sharp pain.

“ _Come on, Wally_.” He hissed. 

Wally whimpered and came in his pajama pants.

——

As soon as he came down his high, Wally braced himself for the inevitable, _“Oh… that was fast.”_ Which would then be followed by awkward stuttering, apologizing, and a painfully silent few minutes of changing clothes, topped off with an _“Um… Bye.”_ He had been down this road before. 

Automatically, Wally said, “Sorry.”

Bruce had rolled off of him but Wally could still feel the tingle of Bruce’s harsh grip in his hair. Bruce was now a warm weight beside him in the bed. He was still too warm. Too close. Wally couldn’t bring himself to look at him. He felt a blush creep up again as he found a particularly interesting spot on the ceiling to study, trying to keep himself from running away immediately. He continued to study the ceiling even as he felt Bruce move against him, moving closer.

Bruce’s breath was soon on his neck. Wally tried not to shiver as Bruce said, “Don’t be.”

Then, Bruce was kissing his neck. No, biting. Batman was biting his neck. The pain sent Wally’s hand flying to the back of Bruce’s head. Wally’s hand held Bruce there. Right there. He moaned around the feeling of Bruce’s teeth against his skin. Bruce supported himself on one arm as he worked on his neck. Then there was a rustling of fabric and Wally realized that Bruce must be touching himself. That thought alone threatened to make Wally lose it for a second time. Bruce worked the skin under his teeth, surely leaving a mark Wally will have to deal with in the morning. Wally could hear Bruce’s hand move quicker on himself. Bruce groaned against Wally’s neck. 

Bruce’s voice was ragged now, “I — I wanted to see you — see you come. You looked so…” Bruce didn’t finish, choosing instead to kiss Wally. But it wasn’t so much a kiss as much as Bruce panting against his mouth.

“I want to see you, too.” Wally said before he realized it. Bruce grunted above him. Then, Wally couldn’t stop talking. “C’mon, Bruce. I want to see you. I bet you’ve been thinking about this all day. I bet you’ve been waiting all day to get me in your room like this, in your bed. I’m right, aren’t I?” And both Wally and Bruce shivered because they knew he was. And Wally still couldn’t stop talking. He started telling Bruce how big he was. How very big. How he wanted him to hold him down even harder next time. How he bet Bruce would make it real good for him. How Bruce would take him nice and hard like a proper gentleman. “You’d make it so I’d feel it the next day, wouldn’t you. I’ll be sitting at one of the League meetings and all I’d be able to think about is —”

Then Bruce’s face scrunched up and he made the most delicious of whines. 

And Wally watched as Bruce came. 

And Wally memorized every detail. 

——

Afterwards, they took off their spent clothes in a comfortable silence. Wally didn’t stare at Bruce’s scars. Bruce didn’t comment on Wally’s freckles. But he did say to Wally, “You can stay.”

And Wally didn’t know what to say to that. He didn’t know how to say that he didn’t — _couldn't_ — sleep. But there was something in Bruce’s face that told him that maybe… Maybe this could be alright. So Wally turned off the light and let Bruce pull him under the covers with him, let him wrap his strong arms around his body, let him breathe deeply against his neck. 

And maybe he could do this, let this happen. Wally listened as Bruce’s breathing changed, and, soon, Bruce was snoring softly beside him. Wally focused on that sound and allowed his eyes to gradually fall shut. 


	2. Chapter 2

Wally woke up to an empty bed. He didn’t wake how he normally did — that is, launching out of bed in a sudden burst energy to find himself fully dressed before his mind had registered it was time to wake up. Instead, Wally woke up gradually as his senses slowly began to take in his surroundings. He was still in Bruce’s bedroom, dimly lit now by the desk lamp. He was still naked. There was a faint sound of clothes rustling — Bruce. Wally sat up in the bed. 

Batman had his back turned to him, preoccupied with fastening his cowl to his suit. But he must have heard Wally stir for he said, “Good morning.”

As he watched Batman attach his gauntlets, Wally began to feel incredibly out of place. He hadn’t intended to actually sleep in Bruce’s bed. He had planned to leave as soon as Bruce was asleep so he could avoid… this. This morning after. This realization of what they’ve done in the night. 

“Hey.” Wally said lamely. 

“It’s only been two hours,” Bruce continued, “Though, I imagine that’s a lot for you.” 

It was. 

Bruce was nearly finished now and was reaching for his cape. Wally wondered how many people Batman had put his suit on in front of. It couldn’t have been many. Wally wasn’t sure if he should be one of them.

Fully dressed now, Batman turned to face Wally, “I’m needed in Gotham.”

Wally figured as much. “Okay.”

There was a long moment in which they simply gazed at one another. Batman seemed to be waiting for something. Was there something Wally was supposed to say? Wally didn’t know what that could be. But he did find himself staring at Bruce’s lips and was struck by the absurd realization that he now knows what it’s like to kiss Batman. 

Bruce opened his mouth as if to speak and, in an instant, Wally realized he was scared of what Bruce might say. So, Wally said the first thing that came to mind:

“Can we do this again?”

Wally wished he could read Bruce’s expression under the cowl. There was another long moment. Then, Bruce moved towards the bed. Wally could have easily moved, could have easily left the room as soon as Bruce started walking. But he didn’t. Instead, Wally remained rooted in place. Bruce seemed to realize this too for he smirked as he towered over Wally. 

Then, Bruce placed his gauntleted hands on either side of Wally’s face and kissed him. Wally met him hungrily, his hands coming up to hold Bruce’s wrists, keeping them in place. Wally whimpered as Bruce’s tongue slid into his mouth. Wally didn’t even mind the hard press of armor against his face, strange as it was. Bruce swung one leg over Wally then he was kneeling above Wally on the bed, kissing him all the while. Wally fell back onto the pillows as Batman hovered heavily above him. They stayed like that until Bruce pulled away for breath. They panted and smiled at one another. 

Batman pet Wally’s hair softly.

“I need to go.”

Wally wasn’t sure he could speak so he nodded his understanding. Batman pet Wally’s hair again, then he pulled up and off of Wally, then he was gone. And as Wally lay on Bruce’s bed, lips still tingling from their kiss, fingers lightly touching the mark Bruce had left on his neck, Wally felt that it was answer enough.

It will happen again. 

——

What Wally didn’t realize was that it would be weeks until it did happen again. 

Whatever problem had arisen in Gotham City that night turned into a week-long undercover sting operation. Batman didn’t give the League many details, but the League gave him the space he needed to work. The same day Batman returned to the Watchtower, Flash was sent off-world. They didn’t see each other. Two days later, Flash was sent back early to the Watchtower and straight to the med bay after he had fallen into an alien pit of unspeakable horrors that he’d really rather not talk about. Three days after that and the Flash was patched up, tentatively declared non-contagious, and released from the med bay — though still kept off of active duty for a few days more. 

He saw Bruce alone in the dining hall in the middle of the night not long after. After a moment’s contemplation, Wally decided to sit across from him. Bruce acknowledged his presence but didn’t say anything. They ate their 3:00AM leftover space Thai in a shared silence. Wally tried not to think about the sounds Bruce made when they were together last.

After finishing his food, Batman wiped his mouth politely with a napkin then said, “You look like shit.”

Wally was surprised into laughter. 

“Thanks.”

Bruce smiled. 

Then, Bruce sat and listened as Wally ate through five more plates of food and rambled about how the mission went sour so quickly (and that it was definitely not his fault no matter what Plastic Man said). Half-way through his last plate, Wally realized how much he had been talking and caught himself. Wally cleared his throat and wondered how to change the subject. 

“How’d your undercover thing go?” Wally asked. 

Bruce made a non-committal sound that Wally couldn’t really read either way. 

Wally was out of things to say so he shoveled the rest of his food in his mouth instead. Batman stood up from the table. “It’s good to see you, Flash.”

Around his mouthful of food, Wally’s “you too” came out as, “ _Oo toomf_.”

Bruce patted Wally’s shoulder lightly — sending a shiver down Wally’s spine — before leaving the dining hall. 

Flash sat by himself and tried not to feel embarrassed. 

——

Over the next several days, Wally and Bruce kept trying to get the other alone between missions. 

Wally soon found there were only so many excuses he could come up with for giving files to Bruce or asking for his consultation on a mission report. And every time he did manage to find a workable excuse, Batman was never fully alone. At first, Wally thought it was just him. But once after Captain Atom had walked in on them about to talk in the break room, Batman’s annoyed countenance told Wally that it wasn’t just him. 

Once, after a meeting, Batman asked, “Anyone have plans after this?”

The question was the typical small talk that gets asked after every meeting and is directed towards everyone, nothing unusual. Except that it was asked by Batman. Who never does small talk. Who looked directly at Wally when asking it. 

No one else seemed to pick up on the unusual occurrence of Batman initiating small talk. Perhaps they just thought he was becoming more friendly. Superman started talking about visiting Kansas. Wonder Woman said something about giants. Wally wasn’t listening, though. He was looking right back at Batman. He knew exactly why he asked. 

Wally answered truthfully, “I’m heading to Central City. I think Boomerang might be planning something.” 

Then, Wally fibbed a little, “I could actually use some help, if you’re free.”

Batman nodded. 

Wally couldn’t help but grin. 

——

A few hours later, they tumbled into Wally’s apartment, kissing furiously. 

The mission had gone perfectly. Captain Boomerang got busted. They made a great team. And now Wally had Bruce’s tongue down his throat just the way he’s wanted for weeks. They didn’t even turn on the lights, didn’t even make it to the bedroom before they were pulling off their suits inbetween kisses. When they had stripped down to their under armor, Wally pushed Bruce against the wall, kissing his neck, the ache burning deep within him. 

“I’ve been thinking about this for so long.” Wally panted before running kisses down to Bruce’s collarbone. “Have you been thinking of me?”

Bruce made a low sound and grabbed Wally’s hips to grind them hard against his own. Wally took that as a definite yes. 

Wally kept talking, “I think about you, Bats. Late at night I —” Batman cut him off with a filthy kiss. Wally moaned. 

They pulled apart wetly. 

“What do you want to do to me?” Wally asked, out of breath. 

Bruce growled and flipped them so Wally’s back banged against the wall. Bruce’s hands gripped tighter on Wally’s hips as they ground against each other. Wally hoped for bruises in the morning.

“Bet you want to fuck me, huh?”

“Shut up, Flash.” But there wasn’t any real malice in his words. 

“Make me.”

The look in Bruce’s eyes made Wally shiver. And Lord help him, Wally still couldn’t stop talking. 

“I think about that, too. Getting on my knees for you. I could —”

Bruce pushed Wally to his knees. Wally went down willingly. 

Wally watched with bated breath as Bruce pulled his cock out. And Bruce was big and half-hard and leaking already. Wally’s mouth went dry. He took hold of Bruce and jacked him lightly, looking up at Bruce’s face. Bruce shuddered above him, hands against the wall for balance. Wally wanted those hands in his hair. Wally leaned forward and took him in his mouth. 

The sounds Bruce made were addicting. Wally’s tongue ran along the underside of Bruce as he sucked on the head, his hand still working the rest of the shaft. Wally took more of Bruce in his mouth and, much to his delight, Bruce let out a strained, “ _Oh-hhh_.” Wally moved his hands to Bruce’s ass and bobbed his head, hoping Bruce would get the idea. And yes, _yes_ , Bruce’s hands were finally in his hair, fingers tangling in the strands. Bruce’s hands tightened as his hips started thrusting gently in and out of Wally’s mouth. Wally moaned around Bruce at the feeling of his mouth being stretched wide over Bruce’s cock. 

Drool had begun to pool in Wally’s mouth around Bruce’s dick, falling down the sides of Wally’s mouth. Wally let his eyes close and focused on the feeling of Bruce fucking his mouth, of moaning and sucking and breathing between thrusts. Eventually, Bruce’s thrusts became so brutal that Wally could only stay there and take it, keeping his mouth open and lax so Bruce could fuck into him. There was a tingling in Wally’s scalp from the grip in his hair. Wally loved it. Wally half-choked and then moaned at a particularly hard thrust. 

Bruce grunted above Wally, his thrusts becoming harsher and more erratic. Then Bruce was coming and pulling out and Wally swallowed what he could but most landed on his face and he had to close his eyes. Then Bruce was hauling Wally up to kiss him, his lips, his face. He was tasting himself on Wally’s face and the thought was so filthy it made Wally moan and shake under Bruce’s attention. Then Bruce’s hand grasped at Wally’s cock through his under armor. Wally mewled. 

“I like this look on you, West.” 

And that voice was definitely Batman’s. Wally moaned and started vibrating.

Batman continued, hand gripping tighter around Wally’s dick, “You look absolutely filthy. You’re just so hungry for it, aren’t you? So desperate.” 

Wally nodded and tried to stop shaking, stop vibrating. But the feeling of Bruce’s hand through his clothes and the things he was saying were almost too much. But it wasn’t enough. Wally wanted to actually feel Bruce. He needed to. 

Bruce kept talking, “You’re a great cocksucker, you know. Bet you’ve been wondering for weeks what it’d feel like to have my cock down your throat.” 

Wally nodded and wondered if he was crying. He couldn’t tell. He was aching for Bruce to actually touch him. 

As if reading his mind, Bruce licked the palm of his hand then stuck it down the front of Wally’s shorts. Wally cried out when Bruce finally reached dick. Wally immediately began to thrust up to meet Bruce’s strokes. Bruce’s hand was big and rough and warm, just like the rest of him. And Wally felt like it was finally enough. 

“I’ve been wondering too,” Bruce continued as he jacked Wally, “about how you’d look with my come on your face.”

And that’s what sent Wally over the edge. He came, shaking and whimpering, under Bruce’s hand. 

——

They took a moment to catch their breaths. 

Wally directed Bruce to the kitchen so he could make them tea. Wally excused himself to the bathroom to… freshen up. He washed off Bruce’s cum from his face, his hair. He looked at himself in the mirror under the harsh fluorescents and he couldn’t decide which was more absurd: the fact that he was fucking Bruce Wayne or the fact he was fucking Batman. Wally started laughing. He laughed until he teared up and was red in the face. He heard the kettle whistling. He wiped his eyes then changed into a clean pair of pajamas. 

In the kitchen he found a hot cup of black tea waiting for him and Bruce Wayne leaning comfortably against the counter. Bruce had turned some lights on in the apartment. He looked up at Wally as he stepped into the kitchen and offered him a small smile over his cup of tea. Wally wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to seeing Bruce like this, in his world. Wally picked up his cup. 

They drank their tea and talked about the weather and the upcoming missions and Bruce even laughed at one of Wally’s stupid jokes. And when they had finished their third cups of tea and the conversation had dwindled, Wally said to Bruce, “You can stay.”

And he did.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter picks up right after the last one.
> 
> As always, comments and critiques are welcome.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

Upon leading Bruce to his bedroom, Wally had Bruce wait outside the door so Wally could take care of some speed cleaning. A moment later and Wally opened door and was promptly pulled into a kiss by Bruce. Wally let out a surprised _mmpfh_ against Bruce’s mouth. Then Bruce pulled him in closer and the kiss deepened and they tumbled into Wally’s matchbox bedroom and onto his single bed. Wally fell backwards onto his bed with a laugh. Bruce landed heavily beside him. The bed was too small to accommodate the both of them so Bruce wound up with half his body covering Wally. Wally didn’t mind. 

Wally kept laughing then leaned over and kissed Bruce softly. The kiss was different than before. It was slow and gentle and it was all so easy and almost… sweet. One of Bruce’s hands held the side of Wally’s face so that Bruce could kiss him steadily, his thumb rubbing small circles into Wally’s cheek. 

When they pulled apart, Wally whispered, “Do you have to go back to Gotham tonight?”

“Not tonight,” Bruce whispered back then kissed Wally again. 

Wally broke away, “Are you sure? Because if you need to —”. 

“I’m sure,” said Bruce, cutting him off. 

When Bruce leaned in to kiss him again, Wally turned his head away and said, “I’m serious. If you need to go, you can. You don’t have to —”

Bruce sighed. “Do you want me to go?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No.”

“Then shut up.”

Wally did. Bruce kissed him again. 

Bruce trailed kisses down Wally’s face until he was sucking a place on Wally’s neck. Wally thought back to their first night, thought back to “I care about you, Flash” and began to feel warm and tingly. Bruce was above him now, still working on Wally’s neck. Bruce’s thigh moved against Wally’s groin. Wally gasped and was hard again in a second. Bruce felt it and made an amused sound against Wally’s neck. 

“S-sorry. Side effect of — uh — you know…” _Super speed_. 

Bruce’s thigh pressed against Wally harder. “Don’t apologize.”

“Right. Sorry.” _Stupid_. 

Bruce pulled back to look at Wally and laughed, “You’re impossible.” 

Wally felt himself blush. He still wasn’t used to the sound of Bruce laughing. Or seeing Bruce look at him like that. Bruce’s thigh continued to rub against Wally steadily, pushing away Wally’s thoughts. Seeing Bruce looming over him reminded Wally just how big Bruce was. Wally let out an embarrassing noise, his hands beginning to vibrate. Spotting the movement, Bruce gently lifted up one of Wally’s vibrating hands and looked it over, studying his hand like Batman would a piece of evidence. All he was missing was the cowl. 

“Hmm.” Mused Batman, “Do you always…?” _Vibrate?_

Wally was lost for words so he shook his head no. His eyes were shut tight now as he tried to keep from coming beneath Bruce from just the feeling of Bruce above him, touching him. Wally didn’t always vibrate during sex. In fact, he usually didn’t. And if he ever did, it mostly manifested into a barely noticeable tremor. He was usually in much better control. But, for whatever reasons, sex with Bruce was different. Having learned what he wanted to know, Bruce dropped Wally’s hand and bent down to lick a stripe up Wally’s neck. Wally couldn’t help but shudder and moan at the feeling of Bruce’s tongue against his throat. 

Bruce chuckled to himself, “You’re so responsive.”

“Shut up, Bats.”

“Hmm. I can stop.” Bruce said, then pulled up and off of Wally. 

Wally shot up and grabbed Bruce around the hips, pushing Bruce until he back was flat on the bed and Wally was kneeling over him. The whole movement took less than a second. Bruce looked up at Wally with wide eyes. Wally shifted above Bruce and then smirked. Bruce was getting hard now, too. Bruce caught on quickly and, after shaking his surprised expression, smirked back. 

Wally leaned down to whisper into Bruce’s ear the dirtiest thing he could think of:

“But don’t you want to see how many times I can come?”

——

Eventually there had come a point in the night when Wally could no longer bear to be touched, no matter how much he enjoyed Bruce’s enthusiasm at the task. So, after cleaning up, they had wound up laying in Wally’s bed, spent and content, and talking in the darkness. 

After a soft “May I?” from Wally, Bruce had let Wally touch his scars. Wally noticed the small flinch at the touch that Bruce couldn’t hide. Wally picked a long silvery jagged scar on Bruce’s side and slowly ran his fingers along the length of it. Bruce had tensed at the touch, but let Wally continue. 

“I don’t get scars anymore.” Wally had said, watching as his fingers ran up and down Bruce’s side. “I didn’t have any before I got my powers. I kind of wish I did.”

Wally stopped touching Bruce then and turned to lay on his back and stare the ceiling. 

“I don’t make any sense, you know.” Wally said to the ceiling. “My powers don’t make sense. I’ve thought a lot about it. You would think, realistically, that with rapid healing, my cells would experience rapid aging — telomeres and all that — and that my cells would age and die quicker than normal. And that the rapid cell aging would occur faster as my body moves at faster and faster speeds. So the faster I go, the sooner my cells would age and die. I should be ancient or dead or covered in cancers. But that hasn’t happened. I’ve had these powers for years and I feel the same as I did when I first got them.” Wally sighed. “I don’t know. Perhaps the Speed Force will keep me alive at the same state forever until something else manages to kill me. Maybe I’m magic.”

There was a long long silence in which Wally simply looked at the ceiling and tried to ignore the moisture at his eyes.

“Sorry.” Wally said with an attempt of a laugh and a wiping at his eyes, “Not sure why I told you that.”

“It’s okay.” Bruce said softly and kissed the top of Wally’s head. 

Bruce started talking after that, maybe to get Wally’s mind off of death — and, whether that was Bruce’s intention or not, it worked. Bruce talked about the flowers that grew at Wayne Manor. His mother once had a large garden, an early anniversary gift from Bruce’s father. 

“Every flower in every color you could imagine. Her favorites were the orchids, I think. Delicate things. Took years to grow.” 

There was a softness in Bruce’s eyes that made that strange feeling stir in Wally’s chest again. 

“That sounds really pretty.” Said Wally, not sure what else to say. 

“My favorites were the wildflowers.” Bruce continued. “They weren’t in the garden. They grew all over the lawns and no matter what happened, they would come back again each spring, in every color. There were these little blue ones, too...” 

Bruce had trailed off, lost in some memory or another. Wally thought it would be nice to see the flowers one day. 

“What happened?”

“Mm?”

“To the garden? What happened to it?” Wally asked before he could think about how he probably shouldn’t. 

“Oh.” Said Bruce, falling back to the present. “It all died years ago.”

 _Oh_.

“Still have the wildflowers, though.”

——

Wally didn’t realize he had dozed off until the harsh sound of his communicator beeping sent him jolting into consciousness. He was standing in full costume before the second beep. Bruce blinked up at him from the bed. Dawn light was peeking throw the blinds of Wally’s bedroom window.

“This is Flash.” Wally spoke into his communicator. He gestured to his communicator and mouthed, You?. Bruce shook his head. Wally guessed that the Watchtower knew better than to call Batman this time of day.

“ _Flash, this is Watchtower. We need you come in. Earthquake. We need you on search and recover_.”

“Got it.” Wally said. And then there was the barest of pauses as Wally took one last look at Bruce on his bed. “Send me up.”

And, as he braced himself for the teleport up to the Watchtower, Wally remembered that he thought that Bruce would have been gone by morning. And yet, here he was. He tried to think of what you’re supposed to say when you’re leaving the guy you’ve just slept with. 

“There’s pizza in the fridge.”

Then, he was gone. 

——

The mission went as well as could have been hoped. An earthquake in an over-populous city in a developing country unused to earthquakes left thousands either trapped in rubble or injured or dead. Flash worked search and recover until he nearly blacked out running a young girl to the evacuation area. Luckily, Superman appeared in time to catch the girl and Flash before Flash could stumble and fall at such a high speed. 

“Flash, you need to rest.” Superman said, taking the girl from Flash’s arms.

Wally leaned against Superman and heaved for breath. He shook his head and tried to shake the dark spots at the edge of his vision. 

“You’ve done enough.” Superman added.

 _What a strange thing to say_ , Wally thought, as his vision begin to fade. He heard Superman say something into his comm then a second later felt the familiar tug of the teleport begin. _How could he ever do enough? Surely if he had eaten more or if he had trained more or if he had ran just a bit faster he could have been fast enough. He could have saved them. He could have saved them all._

_If only he was faster._

——

Wally woke to the harsh lights of the med bay and an IV in his arm. His arms and legs were restrained to the bed — which alarmed him for only a second until the rest of his awareness came back to him. Restraints were now common procedure for Flash after he had developed a bad habit of bolting out of the med bay as soon as he was conscious (which certainly never helped his injuries). 

The nurse noticed he was awake and walked over to remove his restraints. 

“Morning, Flash.”

Wally could only manage a groan and a mumbled, “Mornin’”.

Once the restraints were off, the nurse ran through the standard report.

She began with the usual: “What you did was pretty stupid” which she says to every patient. Or at least, Wally hoped she did (he sometimes wondered if only he got it). 

She followed up, like usual, with a list of the injuries: “You didn’t hurt nothing too bad. Nothing’s broken. And if anything were hurt bad, it’s long healed by now.”

Wally closed his eyes and gave a thumbs up. 

The nurse continued, giving the expected diagnosis: “You pushed yourself too hard, kid. Again. You’ve got to take it easy.”

 _What a strange thing to say_.

“Though, I’ve got to say, this is a lot better than the alien pit from last time.”

Wally agreed.

“Thanks, doc.”

“Of course.” She replied. 

Wally resettled in the bed, seeking some more medicinally-induced rest.

Then, the nurse said: “Oh! I was supposed to give you something.”

After some sounds of the nurse rummaging around the room, Wally heard the soft sound of something being placed on the bedside table. 

“It’s a gift for you. Got delivered not long ago. No clue who sent it, but I think it’s nice.”

Wally opened his eyes. On the bedside table was an extra-large box of pizza. Wally’s nose registered it before his eyes or mind did. When his mind registered what he was seeing, he started laughing. Then he couldn’t stop. He laughed until tears welled up in his eyes and his sides hurt. The nurse looked at him puzzled. 

“Are you going to laugh at it or eat it?” The nurse asked. 

Wally kept laughing as he opened the box, picked a slice, and bit into the most disgustingly greasy pizza he had ever eaten in his life. It was heavenly. Wally really had to give Bruce credit, food was definitely better than flowers and a card. With a chuckle, the nurse left Wally to his pizza. Wally reached for his second slice and noticed something that he didn’t on the first slice: taped to the inside of the lid was a flower.

Wally ignored the pizza and removed the flower from the box. Wally twirled the flower — small and blue and wild — between his fingers. Wally smiled and decided that it was definitely better than a “thanks for last night” text. There was something comforting in knowing that Batman was secretly a romantic. Wally finished the pizza and closed his eyes and thought about Bruce’s hands holding him down. Holding him. He slept and he dreamed of Batman. And it was good.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your kind comments so far!
> 
> Your comments definitely reminded me of why I loved writing this story and inspired me to continue it. Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy this new chapter!
> 
> Oh, and Happy Holidays!

“Hey, this is Flash. Can I have the mission report on yesterday’s earthquake?”

No response. Third time in a row. Wally sighed and drug a hand across his face. No one seemed to have the mission report. To his credit, he at least tried asking politely before running off to hunt down the mission report himself. Wally finished pulling on his costume and waved bye to the nurse. Then, with a gust of wind, Wally was out the med bay and down 10 stories of the Watchtower before the nurse could finish waving back. Wally slid into the Records Office just in time to see Superman hand a report to the secretary. 

“Hey, Supes! Earthquake?” Wally asked, pointing at the report. 

“Hm? Oh yeah. This is the —” Superman began.

“Awesome! I’ll just be a second.” Wally said, snatching the report out of the secretary’s hands. Wally cracked his neck, took a deep breath, and prepared his mind for speed-reading. Then, he dived into the report. The report was long. And dense. And not what Wally was hoping for. 

No matter how long he had been doing this superhero gig, Wally always believed that there would somehow always be a way to save everyone. Shayera had once told Wally that his optimism is what made him a good hero, that it’s what kept him and everyone on the team going, that it made him just like Superman. Optimism came with some downsides though: the numbers in the mission reports always made Wally sad. Wally sometimes wondered if that was why the team tended to hesitate to give him the mission reports. No one liked to see a sad Flash. 

Wally sighed and closed the report after a few seconds. The numbers were especially sad this time. 

The silence as Wally handed the report back to the secretary was almost painful. Wally braced himself for Superman’s concern.

“How are you doing?” Superman asked. _There it is._

Wally forced a smile and said, “I’m fine,” even as the numbers from the report kept swimming around in his mind. Wally felt his heart starting to race, heard his blood rushing in his ears. Superman, of course, saw through him. 

“You know, it’s not your fault.” Superman continued, in his gentle Superman-like way. Wally had to look way from him. 

“I said: I’m fine.”

Wally couldn’t even believe what he was saying himself. Wally weighed the pros and cons of continuing the conversation, directed a muttered “I need to go,” to the floor and sped out of the office. Wally made a lap around the Watchtower as he tried to decide where to go. Out of ideas, Wally went to his room and flopped on his bed with a groan. 

Wally closed his eyes against the numbers that ran through his mind and tried to think of other things, happier things. Wally thought of Bruce and groaned again. He wanted Bruce. Wally buried his head in his pillows and realized that he didn’t know how to contact Bruce directly. He could try the communicator, but that wasn’t exactly a guarantee — Batman was notoriously difficult to get a hold of — and a part of him seriously doubted that Bruce would want to use the comms for whatever this… thing between them was. Wally grabbed another pillow and half-heartedly hit himself in the head with it. He wanted Bruce. Wally wasn’t even sure why — he didn’t want a fuck, so it couldn’t be that. But even so, he wanted him. He wanted Bruce to be with him. Maybe Bruce could make it better somehow. Wally sat up in bed with a thought — there was still one thing he could try. 

—— 

Batman’s door slid open before Wally could even knock. Wally was taken aback — a part of him really didn’t think that he would be in.

Batman sat at his desk, working on some computer program. He turned to face Wally. He was in full costume so Wally couldn’t read the expression beyond the cowl, but there was an air to him, a slope to his shoulders that told Wally that Bruce was tired. Wally sometimes wondered when was the last time that Bruce wasn’t tired. Batman looked at him expectantly. 

“Hey.” Wally said lamely. 

Batman continued to look at him steadily. 

“Are you busy?” Wally asked.

“No.”

Wally couldn’t tell if Bruce was lying or not (not that he usually could, anyways). When Wally failed to say anything further, Batman asked, “Can I help you?”

Wally stood frozen in the doorway and struggled to find words, “I — I…”

Batman sighed. Then, his voice softened, “At least close the door.” 

Wally stepped inside. When the door clicked shut behind him, Wally was struck by that familiar aching feeling that always appeared when he was around Bruce now. He wanted Bruce to touch him, to hold him. But most of all, Wally was struck by a great desire to take off Batman’s cowl and look at the man underneath. But Wally remained rooted in place. He was still waiting for something — some sign, some signal, to encourage him forward. 

“Wally…” Bruce said softly. 

And that was enough. Wally was in front of him in an instant. Batman had to lean back in his chair to look at him and maintain eye contact. 

“Hey.” Bruce said.

“Hey.” Wally returned. 

Flash slid off his hood and revealed Wally West underneath. They looked at each other. Bruce didn’t take off the cowl.

Wally tried for a smile, “Thank you for the pizza.” 

Then, Wally leaned down and Batman leaned up and they kissed. The kiss began achingly soft and Wally sighed into it. Bruce’s hands slid up into Wally’s hair. Wally smiled against Bruce’s mouth at that — Bruce certainly seemed to have a thing about Wally’s hair and Wally was very very okay with that. The fingers in Wally’s hair tightened and Wally grinned even wider as Bruce’s tongue darted out against his. Wally responded eagerly.

They continued like this for some time until Wally, tired of trying to ignore the press of armor against his face, eventually pulled away. Bruce’s hands fell away from his hair. Wally slid his hands to the base of Batman’s cowl. Gauntleted hands seized his own immediately. Their grip was harsh, unwavering. Wally was acutely aware that Bruce could break his hands right then if he wanted. Wally stared down at their hands and then back at where Bruce’s eyes would be, beyond the cowl. Batman was like a statue before him. Wally wanted to scream. He wanted to tell Bruce that that this wasn’t their first time. _What was so different now? Couldn’t Bruce trust him?_ Then Wally caught the mistake in his thinking. Of course Batman didn't trust him. Batman doesn’t — can’t — trust. _It’s kind of his thing, isn’t it?_

Wally swallowed his agitation and angry words, closed his eyes, and whispered, “Please.”

Bruce didn’t move. Wally’s hands were starting to hurt.

Wally opened his eyes and repeated, louder this time, “Bruce. Please.”

Then, Bruce’s hands gradually released Wally’s. Wally rubbed his sore hands and watched with bated breath as Bruce moved his own hands to the bottom of the cowl. 

Batman slid off his cowl and revealed Bruce Wayne underneath. 

Wally almost shouted with joy as Bruce placed the cowl on the desk. Bruce looked up at Wally questioningly. Wally smiled to himself and wanted to kiss Bruce again. So, he did. The kiss was hotter this time, sharper. Bruce tightened his grip in Wally’s hair, took Wally’s bottom lip between his teeth. Wally moaned and nearly melted. Wally moved down and nipped at Bruce’s jawline, delighted at the way Bruce shuddered ever so slightly beneath him.

Wally whispered in Bruce’s ear, “Stand up. I want to try something.” 

Wally watched, enthralled, as Bruce got up from his chair and stood awkwardly before him. Bruce’s eyes were still asking questions, but he stood quietly, waiting for Wally to explain himself. Wally, meanwhile, was thrilled by the fact that Bruce was listening to him, following him. Wally took a deep breath, then did something incredibly bold and probably stupid:

He hugged Batman. 

Wally threw his arms around Bruce and pulled him in tightly, burying his head in the spot on Bruce’s neck where flesh met suit. Here, Wally could smell Bruce. He closed his eyes, breathed him in, and desperately begged in his mind for Bruce not to push him off and throw him across the room for doing this. Bruce was, predictably, a statue again in Wally’s arms. Wally couldn’t even tell if Bruce was breathing. Wally stood and hugged a frozen man until he began to doubt himself. _Maybe he should let go. Maybe he really should have asked before doing this. Maybe he should just run away now and pretend this never happened and maybe never speak to Bruce ever again_. Wally was beginning to pull away from Bruce when something incredible happened:

Bruce hugged him back. 

Arms slowly rose and circled around Wally until they were hugging him just as tight as Wally was hugging Bruce. Wally sighed with relief. 

Wally gently squeezed Bruce against him and murmured, “Thank you.”

They stood there hugging for some time. The position wasn’t entirely comfortable, on account of them both still being in full costume, but nonetheless Wally considered the hug perfect. He realized, with some amusement, that there was something painfully intimate about this hug, more so than sucking Bruce’s cock. There was even something hilarious, and somewhat sad, about the fact that Bruce could have his tongue down Wally’s throat and could fuck him senseless with no problem, but could barely return a hug. Eventually the frozen man thawed in Wally’s arms. Bruce’s hands began rubbing circles into Wally’s back. Wally wished he could stay right where he was forever. Wally focused on the smell of Bruce and the feeling of his fingers on his back. And Wally thought about the numbers from the report again and all the people he didn’t save and could never save now. And he wanted to cry or break something or do something really really stupid that would make the team berate him over for at least a week. But instead, he stayed still and held onto Bruce. 

Bruce must have felt Wally tense in his arms, or maybe he read his mind, for he whispered into Wally’s hair, “It’s okay.”

——

Wally honestly hadn’t gone to Bruce for a fuck this time, but it just sort of… happened. They had broken away from their hug eventually and laughed at the tension that had built in the room. Then, Bruce was smiling and kissing him and Wally was kissing him back and the next thing Wally knew, they were on Bruce’s bed, now hard and sans clothes. Then Bruce had slid down Wally’s body and whispered, “May I?” and sounded like he really wanted to and Wally had said yes. And then Bruce had sucked Wally’s cock until he was writing on the bed and coming down Bruce’s throat. Bruce came not long after then Wally kissed the taste of himself out of Bruce’s mouth with a sigh. 

Afterward, they wound up wrapped around each other. Wally’s head rested upon Bruce’s chest.

——

Wally knew they had to talk about it eventually. Bruce knew perfectly why Wally had shown up at his room, why he was so upset. There was no reason to pretend that he didn’t. 

“Were you worried? About me?” Wally asked. He directed the question to the ceiling as he couldn’t bring himself to look at Bruce. 

The fingers that had been playing in Wally’s hair stilled. 

Bruce took some time to put together his words before saying, “We were concerned, yes.”

Wally tensed against Bruce. That wasn’t what he asked. He didn’t ask about what the others thought. Fuck what the others thought. Wally sat up and glared at Bruce. Bruce knew exactly what he was doing. And so did Wally. And Wally wasn’t having it.

“Answer the question, Wayne.”

“I did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“You pushed yourself too hard.” 

Wally’s eyes narrowed. That still wasn’t what he asked. 

“We all do, Bruce.” Wally returned.

“But we know our limits.”

Bruce was sitting up in bed now, too. He was wearing that careful stony look that Wally figured Bruce puts on when he wants to look like he doesn’t have feelings. Wally set his jaw firm.

“I know my limits.” Wally said. It sounded like a lie even to him.

“Clearly not, or else you wouldn’t have blacked out in the middle of a critical mission.” 

And the truth hit Wally like a punch to the gut. He put his head in his hands as Bruce continued talking.

“You couldn’t have saved them all, Flash. You know that.” 

And then Wally was crying. And Wally really hated when he cried. 

And Bruce was holding him and saying, “You need to be more careful. We — I… I don’t want to lose you.” 

And Wally shook against Bruce and said he was sorry. And Bruce held him and told him that it was okay, that it’d be okay. And Wally really hoped that Batman was right, as he always seemed to be. And Bruce held him through it all.

——

Eventually, Wally calmed down and they both got dressed and Wally kissed Bruce one last time before dashing out. And, as Wally ran through the streets of Central City, waving at the people he had saved every single day of his career, he knew he was going to be okay.


	5. Chapter 5

Over the next few days, the weight of the earthquake mission gradually lifted off of Wally’s shoulders with each new assignment. And, while the memory of the mission remained, Wally was no longer paralyzed by it. Wally was able to keep working, keep moving forward, keep doing his job and save lives. The other League members became less hesitant around Flash, less worried that Flash might at any point become injured or otherwise unreliable in the height of a mission again. The League trusted him to still be capable to do his job and with each new assignment Flash did his best to prove them right. 

Everything began to fall back into a comfortable and familiar rhythm. Wally had always enjoyed how easy life was when it obeyed a routine. Sure, with a routine things could grow repetitive or mundane or repetitive, but Wally couldn’t help but find it all rather quaint. Routines simplified everything, kept things expected, provided him with some normalcy and one less thing to worry about. Wally’s current routine consisted of the day job, field missions, League meetings, checkups on the Rogues, and meals with GL — who, fresh from an extended off-world mission, had, for whatever reason, missed Flash and wanted to catch up. Wally’s routine was perfect except for one large bat-shaped problem: 

He didn’t know how Bruce fit into it all. 

Since their last night in Bruce’s room, Wally only saw Batman in meetings or in brief glimpses about the Watchtower. The few times they did speak were strictly about work. And when Wally looked at Batman, Wally wasn’t even sure he could see the same man from their times alone. Wally, of course, knew that was a ridiculous thought and of course Bruce was still Bruce. But even so, Wally sometimes had trouble connecting all the many sides and shades of the other man. (Hell, sometimes Wally still couldn’t believe he was actually sleeping with him). 

As the days passed and grew into weeks, Wally kept himself busy and tried not to think about Bruce… which backfired entirely. _Should he try visiting Bruce again or would that be seem too needy? Should he try getting him alone or would that be creepy? What if he just pinned him against the wall and kissed him right in front of everyone?_ Wally decided that the last one was too forward. But the thought that Wally tried to ignore the most was, _What if Bruce doesn’t even want to see him?_

A few days later, and a knock at his apartment bedroom window one night settled the matter for him. The dark silhouette of Batman crouching on a window ledge with the lights of Central City behind him made for a needlessly dramatic image. Wally rolled his eyes and pushed the window open.

“You could have used the door, you know. Or called.”

Batman didn’t move. 

Wally sighed and asked he had wanted to ask for too long, “Have you been avoiding me?”

A pause and then, “No.”

Wally sighed again and moved so Batman could come inside. Instead of a hug or a kiss or a simple “Hello” like a normal person, Bruce handed Wally an important-looking overstuffed manila folder. 

“Mission?” Wally asked as he thumbed through the folder, skimmed for the important bits. Looked like fun. 

Batman nodded slightly.

“Is it League sanctioned?”

Batman said nothing. Wally took that as a no. 

Wally closed the folder and handed it back, “Cool. I’m in.”

—— 

The mission had sounded like great fun until they actually made it to the warehouse and Wally realized exactly what Batman was asking of him.

“You want me to run across a _**minefield?!**_ ” Wally whisper-hissed at Batman. 

Batman clamped his hand over Wally’s mouth as Wally glared at him.

“It’s a small one.” Batman whisper-hissed back, as if it was a perfectly reasonable answer. 

“And,” Batman continued, “I already deactivated most of them.”

Wally shook Batman’s hand off, “Fine.”

As Wally sat back and let Batman debrief the mission for him a final time, he couldn’t help but feel this was the absolute worst date idea ever. 

——

The mission was simple enough in theory:

1) Flash crosses the minefield without activating any of the mines  
2) Flash hooks up some kind of high tech hacky-thingy into the security cameras  
3) Batman hacks the security network, deactivates the security cameras  
4) Batman sets off a controlled explosion to mimic a mine going off as a distraction  
5) Flash scoops up Batman and they enter the warehouse together  
6) Flash fights the guards while Batman does his super-top-secret thing  
7) They successfully escape and have celebration pizza (and hopefully sex)

Of course, nothing goes as well as it should in theory. This turned out to be particularly true with this mission, starting with Step 1. 

——

Wally made it to the side of the warehouse when he heard an explosion behind him. Wally froze immediately. He hadn’t made it to the cameras yet, hadn’t notified Bruce. That means… 

Wally’s fears were confirmed when he heard a hissed, “Goddammit,” from Bruce in his comm. Wally had hit a mine. _Deactivated most of them my ass_ , Wally thought. 

Already Wally could hear sirens going off inside the warehouses, voices shouting. Wally stayed still even as his mind was screaming RUN RUN RUN and his body was shaking as if it was going to take off without him at any moment. 

“Bats, what do I do?” 

A pause and then, “Forget the cameras.”

Wally took a breath then raced back over the minefield. He even managed not to hit one this time. Wally found Batman behind a tree, scooped him up bridal-style (which would have been hilarious at any other time) then back across to the warehouse. Armed guards were already pouring out of the doors of the warehouse. Wally sped up and barreled through them. He didn’t stop running until he found a broom closet in an empty hallway. 

He set Bruce down. There was hardly any room in the closet. Wally could feel Bruce’s breath on his face. 

“We’re on the fourth floor, west side,” Wally said. “Where do you need to be?”

“Computer room, first floor, east side.” 

“Alright.”

——

The rest of the mission went more-or-less according to plan. A second later and they were at the computer room. A few minutes and half-a-dozen unconscious guards after that, and Bruce had successfully hacked the security network and got the door to the computer room open. Then, they were in.

Wally watched the door as Bruce started his work at the main computer. 

“How long is this going to take?” 

Bruce made a noncommittal noise over the sound of his fingers tapping on the keyboard. Wally could hear guards shouting outside the door and started to feel antsy.

“What is this for?”

“Can’t tell you.”

Wally turned on Bruce, started to say, “ _Are you fucking kidding me_?” right as more guards bust through the door. 

Wally made quick work of the guards but couldn’t help but be distracted by Bruce at the computer. As he threw the last guard back into the hallway, Wally yelled back, “Are you done yet?”

Then, Bruce was at his side and said, “Done.”

Wally said, “Finally,” then he picked Bruce bridal-style again and they were in the next state over before Bruce could blink twice.

——

He finally stopped running and dropped Bruce by dumpster in an alley in some city he didn’t catch the name of. Wally leaned against the dumpster and breathed for a moment. 

“Did you get want you needed?” Wally asked at last. 

Batman nodded.

“Are you ever going to say what this was for?” 

No answer. Wally took that to mean probably not. 

Wally was too tired to be angry so instead he laughed and said, “You are so fucking lucky I trust you.” 

Then Batman started laughing with him. And Wally started to feel that familiar tingle, that ache, that itch under his skin, that fire in his blood. And he looked at Batman and Batman looked at him and it felt exactly how it did after they busted Boomerang. A stray thought in the back of Wally’s mind said something about adrenaline — but he knew it would be foolish to think it was a simple as only that. 

He wanted Bruce. Badly.

So Wally asked, “I did good, right?”

“Yes.”

Wally grinned, couldn’t help but try to push, “How good?”

“You were perfect.”

Wally knew that wasn’t true — he had set off a mine for God’s sake — but he definitely liked the sound of it. 

“Mmm. I see,” mused Wally. Wally couldn’t help but keep going, keep pushing, and maybe it was a dangerous game but he had to know. So, Wally leaned forward towards Bruce and whispered in his ear:

“Then how are you going to make it up to me?”

——

Wally bit down to on one of his pillows to keep from crying out as Bruce slid another finger inside him. Neither of them were talking much, focused as they were on the slide of Bruce’s fingers and the sound of Wally’s cries. Wally hadn’t realized he had begun to chant a steady stream of, “fuckmefuckmefuckmeohgodohgodohgodpleasefuckme…” until Bruce hushed him softly and gently removed his fingers. 

Wally whined at the loss before mewling at the feeling of Bruce’s slicked-up cock against his entrance and oh, he couldn’t wait. He started chanting again, “pleasepleasepleaseplease…”

Then Bruce was inside. 

Almost immediately, Wally started whining and rocking back against Bruce. Bruce groaned at the feeling and grabbed at Wally’s cheeks, held him open in what Wally figured must be an incredibly obscene display. Wally felt utterly exposed under Bruce. He didn’t have time to figure out if he liked the feeling though because Bruce began to thrust. 

Wally cried out, pillow forgotten, as Bruce began a steady rhythm: in out in out in out… Wally shuddered, his fingers dug into the bedsheets. He began to feel a dull buzz and vaguely realized that he had started vibrating. Wally hadn’t meant to start vibrating — he usually didn’t — but Bruce seemed to enjoy feeling for he growled appreciatively above Wally.

Then Bruce’s hand was pushing against Wally’s shoulder blades, pushing him into the mattress, while the other pulled Wally’s hips up higher. Then Bruce’s thrusts changed to something different altogether, something animalistic. And Bruce had found the exact right spot and was hitting it every time and Wally realized that this was exactly what Wally had wanted since their first night together, to be held down. Wally shut his eyes and cried out and focused on pushing back and vibrating against Bruce and making this good. And Bruce, Bruce felt so good and Wally started to think that nothing, nothing could ever be as perfect as being right where he was forever.

Then Bruce panted into Wally’s ear, “Touch yourself,” And there was no way that Wally could ever have disobeyed that. 

A few strokes and Wally was gone. 

In his haze, Wally was vaguely aware of Bruce pulling out and turning Wally over. Then Bruce kissed him so lazily, so easily. Bruce ran his fingers through Wally’s hair and kissed down his jaw and muttered over and over, “so good… so fucking good.” And Wally was still shaking and so was Bruce. And the way Bruce looked at him knocked the breath right out of Wally’s lungs. Wally pulled him down for another kiss and then another. Bruce fell against Wally that was when realized: 

“You — You didn’t…” Wally tried to get out. _Bruce didn’t come_.

Bruce seemed to know exactly what Wally was getting at for he smiled darkly and kissed Wally deeply. Bruce slid a hand to rub circles where Wally’s hip met thigh. Bruce tried to pull away but Wally followed him, snatching his mouth for another kiss and then another. Bruce chuckled against Wally’s mouth before pulling away again fully. Bruce’s hand continued to rub circles into Wally’s thigh. 

“Are you ready?” Bruce whispered.

Wally looked at Bruce confused, “For what?”

Bruce smiled in that dark way again and his hand slid away from Wally’s thigh to grip Wally’s cock. Wally was hard again in a second and moaning, “Oh _ohh_ …”

Bruce gripped Wally’s thigh and pulled his leg up to Bruce’s hip. Bruce slid his own cock against Wally’s and Wally was vibrating again and then it all clicked in Wally’s mind what Bruce was getting at. 

“You… You want to…?”

Bruce grinned, “Again?”

Then Wally started nodding and saying, “Yes yes I’m ready yes yes yesyesyesyesyes…” as Bruce settled himself between Wally’s thighs and slid back in again. And it was somehow even better than before and Wally watched as Bruce closed his eyes and panted as Wally ground against him and vibrated. And Wally thought that Bruce was still pretty, especially when thoroughly debauched. Then he didn’t think much of anything at all as Bruce hit the right spot again. Then he came. Bruce soon followed. 

Afterward, Bruce kissed him long and slow. And Wally was certain that nothing could ever be better than this.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the super long break between chapters! Life got busy for me. But I didn't forget about this story, trust me. I am so excited to write the rest of this story.
> 
> It also took me a while with this chapter because I wanted to get it perfect. And I gotta say, I am really damn proud of this chapter. It's longer than all the previous chapters so far because I love you, my readers, as well as writing Bruce and Wally. 
> 
> There's a bit of a subtle timeskip between this chapter and the previous one (maybe a couple months?) but it's not major.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

“Hey, Bruce, I’ve been thinking.” Wally said as he flipped another pancake. Wally had long lost count on how many pancakes he’s made so far this morning, but all he knew was that Bruce had long finished his breakfast (or technically midnight snack because of the whole nocturnal thing) while Wally was only halfway through his. Wally’s apartment was now illuminated by the early morning light filtering through the windows.

“Thinking? That can’t be good.” Bruce muttered with a smirk as he nursed yet another cup of coffee. Wally could count Bruce’s gray hairs in the sunlight.

“Hush, you.” Wally said as he slid his next pile of pancakes onto his plate.

“As I was saying,” Wally continued. “I’ve been thinking. We should go on a date. You know, like a real couple.”

Bruce paused in raising his coffee mug to his mouth. Wally took that as probably a bad sign. 

Wally stuffed an entire pancake in his mouth as he waited for Bruce to respond.

“Are we a couple.” Bruce finally responded.

“I just made you pancakes,” Wally said around a mouthful of pancakes, “So… yeah. I’d say we are.”

Bruce set his mug down on the counter with an expression so unreadable he might as well have been wearing the cowl. Wally grew antsy and busied himself with finishing off his plate as he waited for Bruce to say something, anything. 

At last, Bruce sighed and simply said, “No.” 

Then, Bruce rose from his seat at the counter and walked past Wally and out of the kitchen. Wally was rooted in place, dumbfounded. His mind began racing. _What did that mean? What did Bruce mean? No? No what? No, they shouldn’t go on a date? No, they weren’t a couple? No, Bruce didn’t want to continue seeing him?_ Feeling panic starting to sink in, Wally tried to shake the thoughts off and followed Bruce.

Wally found Bruce brushing his teeth in the bathroom. Wally had bought Bruce a toothbrush once Bruce started staying over at Wally’s apartment at least once every other week. Wally could feel himself shaking as he leaned against the door to the bathroom and made eye contact with Bruce through the mirror. 

“What the hell, Bruce.”

Bruce spat, rinsed, dried his mouth, then turned to face Wally directly with an eyebrow raised.

Wally continued, “You can’t just say ‘no’ ominously with no further explanation as if I know exactly what you’re talking about and then walk off to go brush your teeth.”

“I have a meeting later today.”

Wally pushed off from the door to get in Bruce’s face, shaking even harder now, “You’re not even going to talk it out with me? What’s wrong with me calling us a couple? We’ve been fucking for months, I made pancakes and ran across a minefield for you, and you tell me you care about me but as soon as I say maybe this is more than just coworkers fucking around, you go cold. If you don’t want me like that, you should just tell me.” 

Bruce didn’t say anything but he did sag against the counter and drug a hand across his face. Bruce was always so tired, but especially in the mornings. On the days after Bruce had stayed the night, the only thing that could get Bruce out of bed was the smell of a fresh pot of coffee and Wally tackling him and covering him with kisses until Bruce finally caved in and agreed to get up. Wally had woken Bruce up that very way this very morning. And now Bruce had his face buried in his hands and wouldn’t even look at him. 

“Bruce. Do you want… Do you — Do you not want me anymore?” Wally voice shook. He hated how he sounded. He hated that he felt so scared, down to his very core as if everything was going to fall apart at any moment and all he could do was watch. But most of all, he hated that he wanted Bruce to want him so much. 

“That’s not it.” Bruce said at last, raising his head to look at Wally in eye. 

“Then what is it? I… I want you, Bruce. And I don’t want this to end. I don’t —”

“I want you, Wally.”

Bruce stepped towards Wally and ran his fingers gently through Wally’s hair. 

“But I want you too much.” Bruce continued.

“I don’t really see how that’s a problem —” Wally began. 

Bruce’s hand grasped the back of Wally’s head to pull him in close to kiss him deeply. Wally whimpered and eagerly responded. Bruce tasted like maple syrup, coffee, toothpaste. As their kiss deepened, some of Wally’s louder and more pressing worries subsided and were replaced with a growing desire deep within Wally. Bruce broke their kiss for a moment to lift Wally up under his thighs to place him up on the counter. Wally let out a surprised yelp at the sudden manhandling. Bruce leaned in again to resume their kiss and ease himself into the space between Wally’s thighs.

When the lack of air had gotten the best of both of them, Bruce pulled away and rested his forehead on Wally’s collarbone. 

“I want you.” Bruce repeated, his voice barely above a whisper now as he spoke against Wally’s chest. His hands were resting on Wally’s thighs, thumbs rubbing circles into the muscle there. “If I could, I’d announce to the whole goddamn world that you’re mine. But they can’t have you. I can’t let them have you. They’d kill you because of me. You have to understand that. They’ll kill you.”

Bruce raised his head to look at Wally again and the look on his face just about broke Wally’s heart.

“I see it in my mind every day, I can’t help it. I see them killing you. Batman can’t date Wally West, you and your entire family and all your friends will be dead in a week. Bruce Wayne can’t date Wally West, the corruption of Gotham will rot away at all you care about until one of our covers get blown and then you’re dead. The Flash can’t date Bruce Wayne or Batman because then all of our villains will be chomping at the bit to kill us both.”

Bruce was shaking now and there wasn’t a single thing Wally could say to ease Bruce’s pain, his fears.

Bruce continued, still shaking as tears began to well up in his eyes, “I’ve pictured it in my head every single day. I could take you to the finest restaurant in Gotham but the food’s poisoned and you die while I’m in the restroom. I take you to the opera, but there’s a bomb under your seat. You pause in the middle of a fight to say something to me and all I can do is watch as you get shot in the head in front of me. We can’t… I — I can’t —”

Bruce stopped talking as he focused on trying to regain his breath. Wally had started to cry as well. Wally held Bruce’s face in his hands gently and brought him in close so Wally’s forehead leaned against Bruce’s. 

“Hey.” Wally whispered. 

Bruce closed his eyes and took a deep shuddering breath.

“Hey, you.” Wally whispered again. “We’ll start small, okay? Coffee in the break room. Lunches in the dining hall. Sharing monitor duty. Sparring in the gym together. Sitting by each other during meetings. Eating ice cream and watching a movie on the couch some day. Alright?”

Bruce’s eyes were still closed but his breath was almost normal again.

“Wouldn’t it be nice, Bruce?”

Bruce nodded.

“I think so, too. And yeah, sure, I might die someday. And you might too. It happens. But Bats, we are here right now. And you have me. And all those things I said? I really really want to do all of them with you, okay?”

Bruce let out a long shaky exhale before answering, “Okay.”

Wally smiled gently, “Okay.”

Their next kiss was soft and slow and somewhat sad and, inside, Wally thanked the universe for giving him this moment in time with Bruce. 

——

Bruce called in to work and moved the meeting to a different month altogether because apparently CEOs can do that sort of thing. As soon as Bruce had ended his call, Wally managed to wrangle Bruce into taking a shower with him. Shared showers had become a familiar routine with them by now. They had an easy unspoken rhythm in this as they seemed to have in so many other things. Bruce was in the process in washing the shampoo out of Wally’s hair when he decided to speak up again. 

“I am sorry for earlier.”

Wally looked at Bruce questioningly.

“I shouldn’t have told you all of that.” Bruce continued, “I’m used to those kinds of thoughts. I can live with them. But there’s no need to share them with others, and especially not with you. I won’t do it again.”

“I don’t mind, Bruce. If talking about them would help you—”

“No. It wouldn’t help anything. Trust me.”

Bruce was done washing Wally’s hair and had now moved on to washing Wally’s chest.

Wally grabbed one of Bruce’s hands with his own, “Okay. I’ll trust you.”

“Thank you.”

Bruce leaned down and captured Wally’s mouth in a kiss. The kiss quickly grew faster and hotter until both Wally and Bruce had forgotten about showering altogether. The soap fell to the floor, bottles were knocked aside as Wally cornered Bruce against the wall of the shower. The entire world narrowed down to just the feeling of their hands exploring and sliding across each other’s wet bodies, the heat of the water on Wally’s back, and the sound of their panting against one another as they rocked and ground against each other.

Wally ran kisses along Bruce’s collarbone as Bruce rested his hands on Wally’s hips. Wally breathed out against Bruce’s chest, “Damn, I want to fuck you.”

Bruce inhaled sharply as his fingers tightened their grip on Wally’s hips.

Wally kept talking as he ran kisses up Bruce’s neck until he was mouthing at Bruce’s jaw, “Would you let me fuck you, Bruce? I’d make it so good for you, just like how you always make it good for me.”

Bruce had begun to quiver slightly under his touch as if he was trying to hold back. Wally’s hands wandered down Bruce’s sides until he had handfuls of Bruce’s ass — which was, unsurprisingly, all muscle. 

“Goddamn, Bats.” Wally said in awe as he kneaded Bruce’s ass in his hands. Bruce groaned, his eyes closed and his head leaned back against the shower wall, as if he was focused solely on the feeling of Wally’s hands.

“What do you say, Bats?” Wally continued, “Gonna let me fuck you?”

Then, much to Wally’s delight, Bruce nodded. 

——

“Wally,” Bruce growled into the bedsheets through clenched teeth, “Stop fucking teasing.”

Wally couldn’t help but laugh out loud at Bruce’s annoyance. Wally had definitely been a tease for the last half hour. He was three fingers deep into Bruce now and had allowed an ever so slight vibration in his hand as he fucked his fingers in and out of Bruce slowly. When Bruce growled again, Wally shoved his fingers in harder, increasing the vibration in his hand until Bruce was moaning underneath him. 

“Me? A tease??” Wally said, acting mock-offended. “I would never.” 

Bruce turned his head to look back at Wally and glare at him at that.

“However…” Wally continued, leaning over Bruce’s back until he was whispering right into Bruce’s ear. “If you really really want me to fuck you… Why don’t you ask me nicely?”

He punctuated his question with a twisting of his fingers which elicited a delicious whine from Bruce. They had never quite played this game with each other before, but Wally was willing to risk trying something new in the hopes that the payoff would be more than worth it. Wally was proven right when Bruce answered with a whispered, “Please.”

“Sorry dear,” Wally said, thoroughly enjoying messing with Bruce like this, “I can’t hear you, you’re going to have to speak a little louder for me.”

“Wally, for the love of God, would you please just fuck me already,” Bruce hissed. 

Wally grinned, “There you go.”

In a blink of an eye, Wally pulled back and removed his fingers from Bruce. Wally took a fraction of a second to commit the scene laid out before him to memory. Bruce — in all his scarred, muscled, furred glory — was stretched out on his stomach on Wally’s bed. Sweat glistened on Bruce’s back and Wally couldn’t keep himself from bending down to lick some of the sweat off. Bruce shuddered beneath him.

“I’m going to fuck you, now,” Wally said as he mouthed at the sweat and scars on Bruce’s back. “But there’s one thing you gotta agree to: If I go too far, if I ever accidentally lose control, if I hurt you at all — even a little bit and even if you like it — you have to let me know immediately. Deal?”

Bruce nodded, “Deal.”

“Alright.”

Then, Wally wrapped his arms around Bruce’s chest and hauled him up until Bruce was kneeling on the bed, his back pressed close against Wally’s front. Wally used one of his hands to reach down and guide his cock to Bruce’s hole.

“Relax for me, Bats.” Wally said softly, trying to ease the tightness in Bruce’s back muscles. 

Bruce let out a long exhale and his body relaxed marginally as Wally began to push gently into Bruce. It felt like an eternity until Wally bottomed out inside of Bruce. Vaguely, a voice at the back of Wally’s awareness reminded him that his mind was probably speeding up and his perception of time was slowing down. Wally willed himself to remain at a regular mental speed and slowed down his movements. When Wally was finally fully within Bruce, they both let out a strangled moan. The sounds Bruce was making were going straight to Wally’s dick.

“Bruce — fuck — oh God… you feel fucking amazing,” Wally babbled as he rolled his hips slightly, experimentally. Bruce moaned at the movement.

“How do you feel Bruce? Good? Can I go faster?”

Bruce nodded and breathed out, “Yeah. Yeah, please. Please fuck me.”

Not once in a million years did Wally think he’d ever have Batman begging for his dick. But, life is full of surprises and this was definitely a surprise that Wally was more than happy to take full advantage of. Wally snapped his hips forward, setting a steady brisk pace. Bruce began to let out a series of broken moans and deep “ _Uh uh uh_ ” sounds and grunts as Wally continued to fuck him. After a particularly hard thrust, Bruce fell forwards and grabbed onto the headboard with one hand to hold himself up. Bruce’s other hand shot back to reach for Wally’s head, his fingers tangling into Wally’s hair. Wally leaned into the pull of Bruce’s fingers on his hair then turned his head to kiss the inside of Bruce’s wrist. Wally’s hands slid down to hold onto Bruce’s hips for better leverage so he could maintain the same pace of pounding into Bruce.

Wally then started babbling again, “You feel so fucking good Bruce. I can’t believe we haven’t done this before.”

Bruce made a noise in agreement. 

“Aw fuck, I’m close.” Wally groaned as his pace began to falter.

Wally’s forehead rested against Bruce’s shoulder blade. His eyes clenched shut as he began to be overwhelmed with feeling. The feeling of Bruce around and beneath him, the feeling of warmth and sweat sliding between their bodies, the feeling of trust. Wally was then struck by a major realization: _Bruce trusted him_. Bruce trusted him enough to let him fuck him. Trusted him enough to know he'd to be able to control his powers enough to not kill Bruce while using them. Trusted him enough to share some of his darkest thoughts and fears. Wally kissed Bruce’s shoulder blade as he felt himself begin to tear up. 

It was all so clear and simple in Wally’s mind then. He loved Bruce. He loved and trusted him. And Bruce wanted and trusted him, too. Wally wanted to give Bruce everything he could. He couldn’t free Bruce from his fears and paranoia. He couldn’t rid from Bruce’s mind what fueled the night terrors that robbed Bruce of sleep and kept him up at all hours. He couldn’t clear Gotham of its corruption and villains so there would be less weight upon Bruce’s shoulders. But Wally could do this. He could hold Bruce and give all of himself to him. Wally wanted to be there for Bruce, to keep his bed warm so when he awoke from a terror, there would be someone by his side to ease him back to reality. He wanted to make more pancakes for Bruce and go on more missions with Bruce and lay awake and talk for hours with Bruce because sleep was so often a stranger to both of them. He wanted to give Bruce everything he could, with everything he had in him. 

When Wally came, he told Bruce that he loved him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's an even longer update because I love all of you, my dear readers!
> 
> It's Wally's birthday this chapter!
> 
> As always, comments and critiques are always welcome.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

They didn’t talk about the “I love you” thing. 

Bruce acted as if he never heard Wally say it, didn’t press the issue. Wally was grateful for that. As long as Wally could remember, the whole idea of “love” and all that comes with truly loving someone… terrified him. Love meant the whole world coming to a screeching halt and recentering upon one person. One singular person that has been given absolute control over his own life. If he loved Bruce, that meant his life was no longer his alone. His life was now helplessly tangled with Bruce’s. 

The thought made it hard for Wally to breathe.

So, Wally chalked up the “I love you” thing to one of those crazy things you say during crazy good sex and put it firmly out of his mind. He did not love Bruce. Bruce did not love him. They were coworkers and sort of friends and they fucked around and maybe they’re getting the closest either of them could get to having a semi-normal dating relationship. Most superheroes never really get the chance to experience the normal events in adulthood like awkward one night stands or dating or falling in love. Especially not superheros so deeply connected to their identities like Batman and the Flash.

So was it complicated? Definitely. Love? Probably not.

——

A week later, Batman ate at the Watchtower dining hall in the middle of the day. An eerie silence fell over the room as soon as he entered. His cape swept behind him as he joined the back of the line. He ordered the meatloaf. 

Bruce looked hilariously out of place. 

At the sight, Wally beamed from where he was sitting with GL across the dining hall. He shot up from his seat at his table, started waving, and shouted: 

“HEY BATS!”

John looked up at Wally incredulously, “What in God’s name do you think you’re doing.”

Wally ignored him and kept waving, “HEY BATMAN!”

John pulled Wally down by his arm and hissed, “Would you please shut up, you’re making a scene.”

Wally didn’t care about the dozens of confused faces that surrounded him. But Wally did care that Bruce was pretending to ignore him. And there was absolutely no way Wally was going to let him get away with _that_.

Wally sped over to Batman, blocking him from entering the main dining hall. 

“Batman! It’s so good to see you. Now, with your sensitive bat-ears, I totally know you heard me calling you, so don’t even pretend like you didn’t.”

Batman stared and said nothing.

Wally stole Batman’s tray out of his hands and started walking away backwards.

“Come sit with us! Come on, it’ll be fun, I promise.” 

Wally turned on his heel and sped back over to his table without looking to see if Bruce had followed him. 

John looked at Wally with wide eyes, “You’re insane.”

Wally grinned.

John then looked behind Wally and with even wider eyes said, “Holy shit, he’s coming over.” John quickly picked up his tray and got up from the table, “I’m not sticking around to see him kill you. Good luck.”

A moment later, Batman took Green Lantern’s newly vacant seat.

Wally handed Bruce’s tray back to him.

“Hey.” Wally said with a smile.

“Hello.” Batman responded as he took his first bite of meatloaf. After a few seconds, he frowned, “The meatloaf’s cold.”

Wally laughed out loud and the tension in Bruce’s soldiers seemed to ease slightly. They ate their food and talked about work matters and events happening in their cities. And the food sucked and some people were still staring and whispering. But Wally didn’t care. 

He had finally gotten his first date with Bruce.

——

The Flash and Batman started to share more meals together in the dining hall. They still got stared and pointed at and whispered about, but no one dared to ask them directly about it, lest they invoke the wrath of the goddamn Batman himself.

Wally had asked Bruce once what they should do if they got asked about their dates in the dining hall. Bruce’s response was that the Batman was feared too much and the Flash was taken seriously too little for anyone to question them about it. And as far as he was concerned, the rest of the League could think whatever they pleased. After a few more dates, Wally had to agree with him.

No one joined their table when they ate together so their dates were always semi-private. And anyone who approached or tried to speak to Flash during one of their dates got a classic Batman glare directed their way. Wally’s stomach always got that butterfly-feeling when Bruce got protective of him like that. It was the kind of thing that Wally would say made him feel hot all over when whispering into Bruce’s ear at night. 

——

Eventually, Shayera became the first person to crash one of their dining hall dates. She surprised Wally with a massive near-bone-crushing bear hug from behind and shouted at him:

“HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY, FLASH!”

The dining hall was then filled with some polite clapping and birthday wishes. 

Batman was silent.

Shayera finally released Wally from her suffocating hug and said, “I wasn’t sure if I’d catch you on your actual birthday since I’m heading off-world soon. So I wanted to make sure I was the first one to tell you happy birthday.”

“Aw thanks! You’re the best.” Wally said, giving a responding hug.

By the time Wally was finishing saying bye to Shayera, Batman was already gone.

——

Bruce was nowhere to be found on Wally’s actual birthday.

Wally tried not to be too bothered by his absence. It’s wasn’t like he had told Bruce that his birthday was coming up or that he wanted to spend the day with him. Birthdays probably made Bruce uncomfortable, Wally guessed. Or, maybe Bruce had actually forgotten altogether. He seemed like the kind of person to compile and memorize massive secret files on someone but still manage to forget their birthday.

(Wally had actually once tried to get Bruce to show him the secret files he had on the Flash. Bruce had responded, dry as ever, “Sharing the secret files defeats the purpose of having secret files.” Wally had rolled his eyes at that then threatened to tickle Bruce into submission until he agreed to give up the secret files. Wally immediately found out that Bruce was not ticklish. At all. Which was rather disappointing). 

So, Wally woke up alone on his birthday. He tried to ignore the empty feeling in his chest and the sad voice in the back of his mind that told him, _Mornings are so much better with him here_. Wally pushed that voice to the side and tried to get on with his day. The Flash’s birthday was always a big event in Central City. The City liked to throw a birthday party for him and each year the Rogues could never really decide if they wanted to wreak havoc or join in on the festivities. Wally still invited them each year, anyways. It was the nice thing to do. 

As it turned out, the Rogues decided to spare the main celebration from their more crazier plots this year — which Flash would make sure to thank them for later. The Flash took pictures with children and kissed babies and pet people’s dogs and tried some karaoke and jumped on the parade floats to wave at and thank the people of Central City.

Not long after the main celebration had died down, he was called up to the Watchtower for a meeting. In the meeting room however, he found a large birthday cake waiting for him a roomful of his fellow League members shouting, “Surprise!”

“Aww thank you, guys! You shouldn’t have.”

Wally blew out the candles on his cake and quickly cut slices of cake for all the heroes in the room. He mingled and drank punch and ate a third of the cake on his own. And all the while, he was looking for Bruce who was nowhere to be found. 

“You seem distracted.” Black Canary commented to him. They were standing to the side of the room drinking punch. 

“Hm? Oh yeah, sorry. I’m just looking for…” Wally said as he continued to look around the room. “Hey, have you seen Batman?”

“Batman?”

“Yeah Batman. I haven’t seen him here at all.”

“He never comes to these kinds of things. Why would he be here?”

“Was he invited?”

Black Canary started to look nervous, “I’m uh… I’m not sure. I wasn’t in charge of —”

Wally started to feel sick. _Bruce wasn’t invited to Wally’s surprise birthday party. No one bothered to invite him because they just assumed he wouldn’t have shown up. And if he did show up, they probably didn’t even want him around. They didn’t know that Flash wanted him there_.

Wally started to shake. The hand holding his punch glass started vibrating so hard, the frequency of the glass increased until the glass shattered. Fruit punch splattered on Flash’s suit. Black Canary began to step away slowly.

“I write individual personalized invitations to each of the Rogues, inviting them to my birthday party EVERY YEAR and they pretty much want me DEAD but NO ONE here bothered to invite Batman?!”

Wally was shouting now. Not at Black Canary, but at the entire room. People had begun to stop their conversations and turn to stare at the Flash.

“YOU CAN’T JUST NOT INVITE BATMAN,” Wally continued, “He has feelings too you know! We ALL have feelings! I don’t want anyone to not be invited to my party ever again, including AND ESPECIALLY Batman — who by the way, you never invite to anything because you’re all a bunch of jerks. EVERYONE gets invited to a Flash party EVERY TIME, okay?!”

Green Arrow had walked over to wrap a comforting arm around Black Canary. 

“Hey, Flash. Do you want to step outside for a moment?” Green Arrow asked.

At the question, Wally snapped out of it and caught himself. He had been vibrating so violently that when he looked down, he was almost a blur.

“Oh.” Wally muttered. He didn’t mean for that to happen. “Yeah… Um. Yeah, I’m going to step out for a bit.”

Wally looked up at the shocked crowd in front of him. He started backing away slowly towards the door and directed a “Sorry” to the crowd.

Then, with a gust of wind he was out of the room, down to the teleporters, and out of the Watchtower.

——

Wally ran laps across a couple of states to clear his head. It didn’t work. Eventually Wally fell against a tree in a hilly part of the state and sat down to catch his breath. Wally watched the sunset and decided that today was definitely in his top 3 of weirdest birthdays. He closed his eyes and thought about how simpler the day would have been if he had woken up with Bruce next to him in bed. 

He felt tired, like a bit of a dumbass, and like a giant asshole to boot. At the moment, Wally wasn’t sure what he could do about the last two, but he knew he could definitely use some sleep. He could come up with a good apology to the League in the morning.

Wally stood up, took a deep breath, then started the long run back home to Central City.

——

Wally stumbled into his apartment much later than he had intended and feeling more tired than he had in a long long time. He was about to stumble into his bedroom when something on the kitchen counter made him pause. There was a cake. A giant birthday cake. And next to the cake, a note:

_Happy Birthday  
\- B_

He sped to his bedroom immediately. And, sure enough, there he was. Bruce Wayne himself. Sitting in Wally’s bed. Reading a book. And probably — no, definitely — naked under his covers. Wally wasn’t sure he had ever been so happy to see Bruce in his life. 

Bruce glanced up from his book.

“You’re late.”

Wally didn’t say anything. Instead, he sped over and climbed up onto Bruce’s lap to toss Bruce’s book away and grab him into a tight hug. He ran kisses up Bruce’s face and squeezed him tight. 

“I am so happy to see you I missed you so much today and today was definitely one of my top 3 weirdest birthdays and that’s definitely saying something and I kind of sort of yelled at the entire League earlier because they threw me a surprise birthday party which was very nice the whole party was very thoughtful and well done but I’m pretty sure they didn’t invite you and I think you should have been there I definitely would have wanted you there.”

Bruce looked at Wally with his gentle “Shut up, Wally” look. He twirled some Wally’s hair between his fingers then leaned down to kiss Wally slowly. Wally melted in Bruce’s arms. They continued to kiss slowly and Wally let Bruce maneuver them both on the bed until Wally was laying with back on the covers with Bruce — who was, yep, definitely naked — hovered above him. 

Bruce broke away from their kiss to run kisses down Wally’s neck until he was next to Wally’s ear. There, he whispered:

“I’ll be honest. For the longest time, I wasn’t sure what to get you for your birthday. Until I realized…”

Bruce trailed off as he gently guided one of Wally’s hands up and around Bruce until Wally’s hand was resting on Bruce’s crack. Wally caught on quickly to what Bruce was implying and began running his fingers down Bruce’s crack until he was prodding at Bruce’s hole and…

“Holy shit, Bruce.”

Bruce chuckled breathily into Wally’s ear. Bruce’s face was hidden against Wally’s neck and the bedsheets, as if embarrassed, as Wally slipped a finger inside. Bruce was loose. And sopping wet. And had definitely spent the last hour — at least — fingering and playing with himself in Wally’s bed while waiting for Wally to get home. 

Wally was painfully hard immediately. He starting fucking Bruce with his fingers until Bruce started keening, sounding so desperate and open it had Wally shaking. Bruce kissed Wally before moving back to straddle him. Then he reached back for Wally’s cock and in one painfully slow movement sunk down on Wally’s cock until he was fully seated. 

Wally had never seen anything hotter in his life. 

Wally’s hands reached to hold onto Bruce’s hips but strong hands gripped them and held them tightly above Wally’s head. 

“Patience,” Bruce breathed out with a grin. 

Then, Bruce started to fuck himself on Wally’s cock. Bruce rarely asked for Wally to fuck him, though never once said no to the idea when Wally suggested it. It always seemed to have be Wally’s suggestion first. Wally often wondered why Bruce didn’t seem to ask for it himself when he seemed to enjoy it so much. Only recently did Wally realize that that was precisely the reason for why Bruce never asked for it: Bruce was embarrassed by how much he enjoyed getting fucked by Wally. 

Bruce’s hands still held Wally’s firmly to the bed. He had begun a steady rhythm riding on Wally’s cock and Wally’s hips had begun to buck up to match Bruce’s thrusts. When Wally timed his thrusts just right, Bruce let out these delightful moans. Bruce’s own cock slapped against his belly. Bruce seemed close and Wally wasn’t far behind. 

Bruce might have been keeping Wally from touching, but there was no way Bruce could keep Wally from talking.

“Damn you look good taking my cock, Bats. I can’t fucking believe you’ve been fingering yourself in my bed for fucking hours waiting for me. Did you come while you were waiting? I was gone for a while.”

Wally bucked up particularly hard causing Bruce to whine as he shook his head. And holy shit, Bruce didn’t even come as he was waiting. What did Wally do to deserve this man.

“Fuck, then you must really be wanting to come. C’mon Bruce, why don’t you show me —”

Bruce let go of one of Wally’s hands to begin stroking himself off. Bruce’s pace on Wally’s cock had begun to falter but Wally didn’t mind, he wasn’t far behind Bruce.

With his now freed hand, Wally gripped Bruce’s hair and pulled him down to kiss. They came within seconds of each other not long after. 

——

Wally ordered him and Bruce a couple of pizzas. They ate pizza and birthday cake and stayed up talking for hours.

“I stil think they should have invited you,” Wally said at last when he still couldn’t shake off the thoughts about the day’s earlier events.

“I have never gone to a League party, mixer, or other social event. I asked them stop inviting me as I was tired of telling them no. Why would they think I would change my mind for you.”

The sickly feeling Wally felt before at the surprise party began to creep back.

“But I wanted you there, Bruce. You should have been there.” 

_It was all so simple in Wally’s mind. Why did everything have to be so complicated. Why couldn’t other people seem to understand what was so simple to Wally?_

Bruce raised an eyebrow as he took another bite of cake.

Wally took a breath so he wouldn’t get angry like he did earlier.

“Fine. How about this,” Wally began. “Next time there is any kind of party or social event where I am the main feature and center of attention, you are not only always invited — formal invitation or otherwise — but you are also expected to be there and I will be very disappointed if you don’t show up. Deal?”

Bruce chuckled, “Deal.”

Then, Bruce leaned over to lick some chocolate icing off the side of Wally’s mouth and Wally decided that maybe this birthday turned to be pretty damn good overall.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shorter than the previous two, but I had to end the chapter here because of how I've planned the rest of the story after this point. (Also, the next few chapters after this one might hurt... prepare yourselves). 
> 
> At the moment, I'm expecting this story to be around 16 chapters or so, but I might decide to make it longer, who knows.
> 
> As always, hope you all enjoy!

During a routine League meeting the next day, Wally apologized for his outburst at his surprise birthday party the day before. Or, he tried his best to. What Wally tried to pass off as a formal apology unfortunately came in the form of a rambling speech read off of scribbled and smudged writing on the side of a slightly used napkin (that he totally did not write while on his run to the meeting room). When he finished his rambling, Wally looked up from his napkin to see the rest of the table looking at him with somewhat confused expressions. Except for Batman who had his face turned away and covered by one of his hands. Wally knew Bruce well enough by now to know that he was probably trying to stifle a laugh. 

After a long pause, Superman spoke up:

“Um, thank you, Flash.”

Wally realized then that he was still standing and scrambled to retake his seat so the rest of the meeting could resume like normal.

Wally tried to focus on what was being said in the meeting, he really did. But his mind kept wandering back to the nighttime birthday celebrations he and Bruce had the previous night. He kept thinking about how loud he got Bruce to moan for him, how Bruce even begged him for more. How the chocolate cake tasted sweeter when licked out of Bruce’s mouth. And how Bruce didn’t show any sign of discomfort today despite how thoroughly Wally had fucked him. Wally hoped Bruce could still feel it. 

Batman’s new seat next to the Flash’s at the meeting table certainly didn’t help Wally’s focus, either. Bruce had changed seats weeks ago. No one questioned Batman directly about it, even though there were some grumbling from the other members about having to change the seating arrangement. When a raised eyebrow was directed Batman’s way, Batman simply responded, “There was a draft.” (Which was a blatant lie but no one pushed the issue so that was that).

Ever since Batman changed seats, Wally found it increasingly difficult not to look at Batman during meetings, not to whisper comments and jokes into Bruce’s ear like he so wanted to. Batman seemed to enjoy to tease Wally this way, pushing how far Wally can maintain professionalism in front of their coworkers. It had even become a running joke recently that Bruce and Wally would tell each other, “Keep it professional,” as Flash was on his way out of Bruce’s Watchtower quarters after a quick fuck. Then for weeks, Bruce would push his limits, tease him, in small and barely noticeable ways that drove Wally mad. Bruce would let his cape brush against Flash’s back as he walked by. Bruce would leave a coffee waiting for Wally when Wally was running late for a meeting. Bruce would give small comments to him at the end of a mission that was probably Batman’s closest equivalent of flirting in the field. And with those small compliments would be the faintest sign of a smile tugging at the edges of Bruce’s lips and Wally’s heart would do the fluttering thing every single time at that.

So, Wally was trying — he really was — to focus on the meeting at hand, but he was failing spectacularly because today of all days the goddamn Batman decided to play footsie with the Flash under the table. 

Batman, predictably, wore a stoic expression, betraying absolutely nothing. Which was just absolutely not fucking fair. Wally nudged Bruce’s foot with his own until they had a nice rhythm going back and forth. This continued until Wally’s attention was dragged back to the meeting at hand when he heard his name called out:

“Flash, Green Lantern, Batman. You have been assigned to spar with the new candidates for the League later this week. You are to assess their strengths and weaknesses as well as examine how well they adapt to different powers and fighting styles. Vixen and Black Canary will be available to assist as well.”

Flash, GL, and Batman nodded their understanding of their assignment. 

When the meeting eventually adjourned and they were filing their way out of the room, Wally wrapped his arms around GL and Batman and said, “Hey guys! We should go sparring together. You know, since we’re going to be sparring the newbies, we have to make sure we know what we’re going to be teaching them and all.”

GL shook off Wally’s arm, “Maybe later,” then he continued with smirk, “Besides last time we sparred, I thoroughly kicked your ass. You sure you want a repeat of that so soon?”

GL flew off before Wally could retaliate or defend himself. He called after GL anyways, “You didn’t kick my ass! IT WAS A DRAW AND YOU KNOW IT!”

Batman and Flash were then the last ones left in the meeting room. 

Wally turned to Batman, “What do you say? Wanna spar?”

Batman shrugged, “Sure.”

——

Wally had always been pretty shitty at normal hand-to-hand close combat. As long as Batman and the Flash had known each other, Batman had consistently remarked that Flash relied too heavily on his powers. Wally had always felt that that was easy for Batman to say seeing as Batman didn’t have any powers and thus had no powers to rely on. 

Bruce made the very same comment as they began to spar.

“You rely too much upon your powers and not enough on actual technique,” Bruce said as Wally dodged another punch. Wally always had trouble understanding what people meant when they said that. If Wally could see every punch coming towards him at a hundredth of the speed, how is simply moving out of the way not a valid technique?

Wally asked that very question to Bruce as he ducked and dodged Bruce’s strikes.

Bruce paused and stood back for a moment. 

Then, Bruce said, “Hit me. Normal speed.”

Wally hesitated then he threw a pretty slow right-handed punch. Bruce easily grabbed Wally’s wrist before the punch landed then the next thing Wally knew, he was landing on his back on the mat with a loud thud.

The breath was knocked out of Wally’s lungs and he wheezed a bit as he asked, “Judo?”

“Aikido.”

Wally nodded then grabbed Bruce’s extended hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. 

“I could have done that,” Wally said as he got back into a sparring stance.

“Only because you see the world in the slow motion. Could you do that without your powers?”

Wally nearly missed dodging Bruce’s next punch as Bruce’s words hit him first. Wally broke his stance while a feeling of dread began clawing at him, “That is… honestly my biggest fear, Bats.”

Bruce paused then as well.

“I don’t think I could,” Wally continued, “I don’t even remember what it’s like to not have my powers, to not see the world how I do now. I can’t just turn them off, I can’t just slow down to match everyone else.” Wally tapped his temple with a finger, “This moves way too fast for that.”

Bruce seemed to take in Wally’s words and nodded slightly before retaking his sparring stance.

“We’ll work on holds next.” Bruce said.

They eventually had to stop sparring when their adrenaline had gotten too high and Wally was feeling so good he started to be concerned that he might not be able to keep himself from kissing Bruce right there in the gym. Which… would have been problem given the fact that their sparring match had drawn a small crowd in the gym. Wally was pretty sure that making out in Batman’s lap in front of a bunch of their coworkers wouldn’t count as “keeping it professional.”

Bruce had continued to comment upon Wally’s form and techniques throughout their match. Towards the end, Bruce said, “Your form is lacking.”

Wally had given a lame retort, “Well, your face is lacking.”

Bruce immediately had Wally’s arm wrenched behind his own back. A voice that was much closer to Batman’s than Bruce Wayne’s then whispered in Wally’s ear, “You don’t really think that, do you?”

And oh boy was Wally in trouble. 

Wally ended the match right then and practically dragged Bruce to his own personal quarters, forgoing the gym showers entirely so they could use Wally’s own. When they made their way into the shower, however, showering wasn’t on either of their minds. 

Bruce gently maneuvered Wally until Wally was facing the wall of the shower, hands placed above his head for balance. Bruce kissed Wally’s neck as strong hands slid down Wally’s sides. Wally panted and trembled under Bruce’s touch. Bruce muttered something under his breath that Wally thought sounded a bit like, “So fucking beautiful,” over the sound of the water. Then Bruce slid two fingers inside of Wally. 

Wally cried out, the sound echoing off the walls of his bathroom. Bruce hushed Wally and kissed the side of his face as he began to fuck his fingers in and out of Wally gently. Bruce muttered a mixture of gentle words and utter filth into Wally’s ear while Wally shook under his attention. Bruce bit softly into Wally’s shoulder and pushed his fingers in harder. 

Wally came with a loud shout. His legs gave out under him but strong hands held him up and turned him around. Wally panted against Bruce’s mouth as he reached down to pull Bruce off as well. After Bruce had come, they stayed in the shower for a long while simply kissing. 

——

“So, what’s up with you and Batman?”

Wally looked up at Vixen at the question.

“Up? Nothing’s up. Nothing is up with me and Batman. Things aren’t even down with me and Batman. There’s nothing. What are you even talking about? Is there something I should know?”

Wally couldn’t stop the flow of word vomit even as he heard a voice in the back of his mind shouting STUPID STUPID STUPID.

Vixen gave a small amused smile and shrugged. “Alright. He just seems… different, you know?”

Vixen and the Flash were taking a much needed water break as they watched GL, Black Canary, and Batman school the newbies out in the training room.

“Different how?” Wally couldn’t help but ask. 

“Dunno.” Vixen said, her eyes following John as he gracefully flew around the training room, dodging and deflecting attacks from the newbies. “Batman just seems more… normal around you. Like almost a normal person.”

“He is a normal person.” Wally said, his own eyes now following Batman as he corrected the Krav Maga of one newbie who claimed to be a martial arts master but was now growing increasingly flustered as Batman continued to correct him. Another newbie tried to do a sneak attack on Batman while Batman was busy but Batman had him pinned to the ground before he could even land a hit.

“Well, not normal, I guess,” Wally corrected himself. “But he is a person.”

“Huh.” Vixen responded. “It’s just easy to forget that, I suppose.”

“Yeah…”

“Anyways,” Vixen said, now turning to look at Wally, “I think you’re good for him.”

Then, she winked.

Wally jaw fell to the ground. She knew. Vixen knew.

Vixen smiled and began to move as if to reenter the training room but Wally called after her:

“Don’t…” Wally started before stopping himself. He didn’t know how to do this.

Vixen paused and turned back to face Wally.

“I mean…” Wally tried again, “Don’t tell anyone, okay? Not even John. Not yet.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Vixen accepted Wally’s extended pinky and fulfilled the pinky promise. Wally desperately hoped pinky promises were still considered binding agreements.

——

Once the training session was over, Black Canary, Vixen, and GL invited Flash and Batman to grab a meal in the dining hall with them. Wally was tempted to say yes until he looked at Batman and melted. 

When the door to Bruce’s room clicked shut behind them, Wally wanted to tell Bruce about what Vixen told him, he really did. But Bruce had Wally up against the wall and was kissing him deeply before Wally could get a sentence formed in his mind. Wally let Bruce undress him piece by piece until all that was left was Wally West in Batman’s arms as the Flash suit fell to the floor. 

Bruce kissed and sucked bruises down Wally’s chest until he was whimpering. When Bruce finally dropped to his knees, Wally was already shaking. Wally cried out when Bruce swallowed him down. His hips started rocking forwards and Bruce groaned around Wally in response. Wally squeezed his eyes shut and focused on the incredible feeling of Bruce around him. He chanted Bruce’s name softly over and over like a prayer as Bruce brought him over the edge.

——

Wally rubbed circles into Bruce’s back. Bruce was snoring softly beside him in bed, his face soft and relaxed and somehow younger when asleep. Wally couldn’t sleep but he was content to watch Bruce actually get some rest for once.

Wally couldn’t get the conversation with Vixen out of his mind. He needed to tell Bruce.

Wally leaned down to kiss the top of Bruce’s head.

He could tell Bruce later.


	9. Chapter 9

Throughout the week, there never seemed to be a good time to talk to Bruce. Between training the newbies and the typical crises and natural disasters, the League — and the Flash especially — were swamped with important things to do and get done. Wally even lost track of Bruce for a few days in the middle of all the craziness.

It wasn’t until after the League quashed an attempted alien invasion that Wally had time alone with Bruce. The battle was long and difficult but the League managed to pull through and win and save the Earth. During the clean up, the Flash helped for as long as he could until Wonder Woman sent him away when she saw he was getting close to blacking out — and the League were not going to stand for a repeat of _that_.

So, that’s how Wally — half-conscious and nearly-loopy from exhaustion — ended up in the passenger seat of the Batplane. Wally leaned against the window and watched the passing clouds and rambled about some nonsense without even really knowing what he was saying. Bruce flew the Batplane silently. They were flying somewhere. Bruce had to do something. But Wally couldn’t really remember what was said to him before Wonder Woman had dropped him in the passenger seat and flew off. So, Bruce piloted the plane and Wally laughed at the clouds and began to drift off to sleep. Until… He remembered.

There was something he had to tell Bruce. Something important.

“Hey… Bats. Can I talk to you about something?”

Bruce glanced over at Wally but didn’t say anything.

Wally cleared his throat.

“I mean… Can we really talk? Like, _talk_ -talk.”

Bruce nodded slightly. 

Then, Bruce flipped some switches on the console and removed his communicator from his ear and put the plane on autopilot. Then, he turned to face Wally, gave him his full attention. Wally willed himself not to be nervous. He wondered if he should lead up to what he needed to say or just jump straight to it headfirst like with everything else.

Wally swallowed, then said: “Vixen knows.” _Jumping right in it is, then_. “About us, I mean. She knows. Told me herself. I had her pinky-promise not to tell anyone — not even GL — and she said she wouldn’t. And I needed to tell you all of this a while ago but everything’s been crazy with the tsunamis and villain attacks and alien invasions so this has been the only time I’ve been able to say anything.”

Bruce remained as still and as a silent as a statue. Wally’s nervousness sent him into rambling even further:

“We haven’t talked about this at all, Bruce. I didn’t know what to do. I never even thought about what to do in this kind of situation. I don’t think about things. I mean, not like you do. You think about everything. You know and plan everything out. So you must have planned for this. You figured this would happen, right? But if that’s the case and I’m really thinking it is, then I think we really should have had a conversation a while ago about what to do. I haven’t told anyone about us. I swear. Because I know how you are about privacy and secrecy and boundaries — I get it, I do. And I wouldn’t out you, or us, or our… _thing_ , to anyone else. I would never ever do that to you. But I just really need know what the plan is.”

The only movement betraying the fact that Bruce was not actually in fact a statue, was the slight tapping of his right index finger on his chair as Wally spoke to him. But still he said nothing.

Wally began bouncing his leg.

“So…” Wally began — hoping that Bruce would just say something anything to him — “Where do we go from here?”

Bruce leaned back and sighed. 

“I don’t know.” Bruce said at last.

“WHAT.” Wally shouted, a bit louder than he had intended.

Bruce remained unfazed by Wally’s outburst.

“I didn’t have a master plan for this, Wally. I still don’t.”

“Wait... So you’ve been winging it this whole time?”

Batman shrugged, “I suppose so.” He gestured between himself and Wally. “I never planned for any of this. For you. For our… _thing_ , as you said.”

Wally started laughing that hysterical kind of laughter you get when you’re exhausted out of your mind and thinking becomes difficult and near painful.

“Oh God, we are fucking terrible at this, Bats.”

Batman smiled softly at him. Wally wished they could have had this conversation in his living room and not in the Batplane. Wally so wanted to climb in Bruce’s lap and wrap himself up in his strong arms.

“So… We’ll just figure this out as we go?” Wally asked.

“It’s worked so far.” Batman agreed, before adding, “Mostly.”

Wally started laughing again. “Yeah. Mostly.”

Bruce turned the autopilot off and resumed control of the Batplane. But he didn’t turn his communicator back on until he had reached over to place a strong hand on Wally’s thigh and say:

“I… I have never cared for someone the way I have you.”

Wally covered Bruce’s hand with his own. What Wally said next was surprisingly difficult as his throat had grown tight.

“Me neither.”

——

The conversation in the Batplane told Wally that even though the League might know or will soon know about their… thing, (they always seemed to manage to avoid saying the word “relationship”), it wouldn’t be a problem. They’d work through it. They’d be okay.

However… 

Bruce’s odd behavior over the next few weeks began to tell Wally something else entirely.

To be fair, Bruce had lots of odd behaviors. Over the past few months, as their thing grew and developed, Wally had grown used to Bruce’s various odd quirks and tendencies. Wally accepted them as simply being another facet to the man, a part of the complex package that was Bruce Wayne. Even so, there were many strange behaviors that stood out more than others.

More than once, Wally had woken up in the night to the feeling of Bruce’s fingers on Wally’s neck or on his wrist, taking his pulse. Upon seeing Wally was awake, Bruce would pull his fingers back quickly as if embarrassed. Sometimes, Wally would continue to feign sleep so that Bruce could reassure himself that Wally was alive without being embarrassed by it. Other times, Wally would grab Bruce’s hand as soon as they landed on his skin. Then, Wally would kiss each of Bruce’s knuckles on each of Bruce’s fingers until Bruce no longer looked at him with concern but with softness in his eyes.

Bruce would also routinely check the security of Wally’s apartment and make recommendations for possible improvements — as if the fastest man alive really needed any, let alone could afford it. 

Sometimes, Batman would even show concern for the Flash in the field, despite all of his self-proclaimed self-control. He’d scold Flash harsher than he would the other members of the team and at first Wally would bristle and want to lash out in retaliation. But soon Wally realized, as Bruce held him tighter when alone after those same missions, that Bruce simply cared. He cared more than he knew what to do with. Cared more for him than anyone else he had before.

That knowledge kept Wally up at night. 

But the hardest thing for Wally to deal with was the times when Bruce would pull away from him. There were days when Bruce’s eyes would get a pained and far away look, as if his mind were miles away. It was the same look Bruce got when Wally sometimes asked him about his past or his parents. But there’d be days when Wally didn’t ask Bruce about those things, and Bruce would still be so distant, so far away. Wally could reach out and touch him, but Bruce wasn’t actually there with him in those moments. Then, if Bruce had been acting distant for a few days on end, Bruce would disappear from the Watchtower altogether and go radio silent. Every time, Wally longed to go find Bruce in Gotham or wherever it was he’d run off to. And every time, Wally stopped himself. He understood that Bruce needed space in those times. Chasing after him would simply put more distance between them. So Wally would carry on and trust that Bruce would return to him. And he always did.

There were also the night terrors. But Wally didn’t like to think about those.

——

Bruce started pulling away from Wally soon after their conversation in the Batplane.

There was no longer coffee waiting for Wally at League meetings. Then, there was no longer Batman at League meetings. Batman reduced his own workload, began to lead less field missions until he wasn’t leading any at all. Even the sex changed. Bruce wouldn’t talk to him the same way as he used to, during or after sex. Bruce would get that distant empty look in his eyes and wouldn’t respond when Wally would ask him about how Bruce was doing. Then, Bruce would roll on to his side, facing away from Wally, and say he was just tired. He didn’t even hold Wally anymore. So, Wally held onto Bruce and hoped he’d be able to reach him.

The sparring in the gym stopped. Then, the dates in the dining hall stopped. Wally started seeing Bruce less and less until eventually, Wally stopped seeing him altogether.

At night, when Wally attempted to sleep on his own in his own bed in his own room in his own apartment for once, he’d be consumed with thoughts that’d tell him that somehow this was all Wally’s fault. _Even though Bruce had had episodes like this in the past, before Wally had talked to Vixen. Even though Wally hadn’t told anyone about his and Bruce’s… relationship. Even though Vixen had simply found out on her own. Wally had been the one to tell Bruce. Wally should have known Bruce might have reacted this way. So, it must be Wally’s fault, right? It was his fault Bruce was pulling away from him._

_It was his fault that everything they once had was now falling apart._

When two weeks had passed with no contact from or sight of Bruce, Wally had finally had enough. 

——

“BATMAN!”

No response.

Wally banged on the door harder.

“BATMAN I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE SO OPEN THE DAMN DOOR BEFORE I HAVE TO PHASE THROUGH THE WALL.”

Still no response.

Wally started kicking the door.

“PHASING THROUGH WALLS IS REALLY UNPLEASANT, OKAY? HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO REARRANGE YOUR MOLECULES? HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO PASS YOUR SPLEEN THROUGH A WALL? IT’S NOT FUN.”

Then, at last, Bruce opened the door.

Bruce’s room was a wreck. Papers were strewn across the floor. A stain on one of the walls spoke of a mug of coffee being hurled at it. A pile of shards on the floor below the stain confirmed it. Bruce’s sheets were more on the floor than his bed. And his desk was overrun with computers and gadgets and wires and god-knows-what-else. 

Bruce himself, however, looked far worse than his room. Bruce’s usually well-kept hair was now a tangled mop. His eyes had dark circles beneath them. He looked as if he hadn’t shaved in a week — Wally had never seen stubble on Bruce on him before. And his clothes looked — and smelled — like they had been worn for days on end.

Wally found himself staring at Bruce much longer than he had intended. Wally had prepared a whole speech for this moment, for when he was going to confront Bruce about the status of their… thing. But all of the words Wally had prepared fell right out of his mind. Because Wally never expected this. Wally never expected to find Bruce in such an awful state.

Instead of saying anything — not even a “hey” — Wally flung himself at Bruce and wrapped Bruce into a tight hug. Bruce’s arms circled around Wally but he lost his balance slightly and stumbled backwards into his room. The door slid shut behind them. Bruce looked awful, but Wally didn’t care. And Bruce smelled even worse, but Wally didn’t care about that either.

He finally had Bruce in his arms again.

And he was going to do whatever he could to help Bruce. 

“I’ve missed you.” Wally muttered into Bruce’s chest. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Bruce started petting the back of Wally’s head softly. Wally realized then that he was crying. Tears darkened the front of Bruce’s shirt. This really wasn’t how Wally had planned for this to go. He never wanted to appear so desperate in front of Bruce.

Bruce didn’t seem to mind though. He just kept petting Wally’s hair. 

Wally finally pulled away from Bruce and wiped at his face. 

“Sorry.” Wally said, trying for a laugh. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

Wally looked at Bruce again, then. Really looked at him. Bruce eyes weren’t fully present, but they weren’t entirely distant either. Maybe Bruce was returning at last. Maybe Bruce was coming back to him. 

Wally leaned forwards to kiss Bruce.

Bruce placed a finger on Wally’s lips. And the first thing Bruce said to Wally in weeks was, “My breath smells terrible.”

Wally didn’t care. “I don’t care.”

Then Wally flung his arms around Bruce’s neck and pulled him down to kiss him. Really kiss him. They needed to talk. Needed to have a proper conversation for once about what this relationship was and what it was going to be. But first, Wally was going to kiss Bruce until Bruce could remember exactly how much Wally wants him, how much Wally needs him. 

The kiss deepened quickly. Soon, it was Bruce who was acting like the desperate one. His hands seemed to be everywhere at once on Wally’s body. Like Bruce couldn’t get enough. Wally whined into their kiss and moved them backwards towards Bruce’s bed.

Wally broke their kiss to push Bruce back lightly. Bruce fell backwards onto his bed breathlessly. Wally was reaching for the hem of his own shirt to pull it over his head when Bruce said:

“Wait. Not — not right now.”

Wally stopped immediately. “Okay.”

Bruce made space on the edge of his bed for Wally to sit next to him. Wally did.

“Can you just…” Bruce started, as if unsure how to say what he wanted. “Could you just be with me. For now. If that’s okay.”

 _That’s all Wally’s ever wanted_.

“Yeah.” Wally said, as he reached for Bruce’s hand, laced his fingers with Bruce’s. “Yeah. That’s okay. We can do that.”

Bruce let out a long breath and squeezed Wally’s hand tightly.

——

“I’m sorry.” Wally said at last, cutting into the comfortable silence in the room. They were laying on their backs on Bruce’s bed, hands still clasped.

Bruce turned his head to look over at Wally. 

“For what?” Bruce asked. 

“I should have been here for you.”

“I would have pushed you away.”

“I wouldn’t have let you.”

Bruce looked at Wally for a long moment. Then, he leaned over to place a kiss on the top of Wally’s head.

“Bruce. Does it always get this bad?” Wally asked when Bruce had pulled away.

Bruce sighed and looked back at the ceiling.

“Not always, no.” Bruce answered. “It hasn’t gotten this bad in years.”

Wally started to feel queasy.

“Is it…” Wally started. “Is it because of me?”

Bruce looked at him again, incredulous. “What? No. Why would you even say that?”

Wally’s voice shook when he responded, “I mean. Is it because of what I told you? About Vixen knowing about us. I mean, more of the League probably knows than just her. I should have known better. I should have asked about what we should do from the very start but I kept putting it off because I hoped it would all just work out on its own. I never should have —”

Bruce pulled his hand out of Wally’s so he could place his hands on either side of Wally’s face and gently force Wally to look at him.

“No.” Bruce said firmly. “This is not your fault. This is nobody’s fault but my own.”

Bruce began to gently rub circles with his thumbs into Wally’s cheeks.

Bruce’s voice softened as he continued, “I allowed it to get this bad this time. I allowed it to consume me. That is not your fault. Do you understand, Wally?”

Wally nodded.

Bruce wiped away some of Wally’s tears that had begun to fall down Wally’s face.

“I am sorry, too.” Bruce said, almost a whisper. “I should not have left you in the dark.”

“I was so scared, Bruce. I thought we were over. I — I thought you didn’t want me anymore. And that I had ruined everything and I didn’t know what to do or what to say —”

Bruce shushed Wally gently and leaned down until his forehead was resting against Wally’s. 

“Are we going to be okay, Bruce?” Wally asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Bruce sighed. 

“I don’t know.”

Wally laughed airily, “Me neither.”

“But I certainly hope so.”

Wally closed his eyes and focused the sound of Bruce’s breathing. 

“Yeah.” Wally responded. “Same here.”

——

They lay there quietly until Wally pulled Bruce out of bed when Bruce appeared to be on the verge of falling asleep. Wally ignored Bruce’s grumbled half-hearted complaints.

“You can sleep later.” Wally responded. “But first thing’s first. You have got to get yourself cleaned up. Shower. Shave. And brush your teeth because your breath smells like roadkill.”

Bruce chuckled. “And will you be joining me in my shower?”

“Hmm. Tempting, but no. I’m going to clean this place up a bit.” Wally answered, waving a hand at the wreck that was Bruce’s quarters.

Bruce kissed Wally’s cheek. “Thank you.”

——

Wally could have joined Bruce in his shower since it only took a minute or two at mid-speed for Wally to tidy up Bruce’s room. But Wally decided to let Bruce have some space. Besides, shared showers easily turned into foreplay and Wally was not in the mood for that. Not today. So, Wally sat on Bruce’s bed and listened to the shower running. 

After about 15 minutes, Wally heard the water shut off. He peeked his head into the bathroom a few moments later. Bruce had a towel wrapped around his waist and was preoccupied with applying his shaving cream. Wally smiled to himself and stepped inside. 

“Hey.”

Bruce made eye contact with Wally through the mirror and returned Wally’s smile. 

“Hello.”

Wally ended up sitting on the bathroom counter to watch Bruce shave. When Bruce was finishing up, he started talking.

“My father never had the chance to teach me how to shave.” Bruce said. “So, when I was older and I needed to learn how, I tried to teach myself. Could never really get the hang of it at first. I went to school with patchy stubble on one side of my face and nicks from the blade on the other side.” Bruce started laughing to himself at some memory or another. “It had gotten so bad that Alfred finally pulled me aside and shaved me himself. Finally learned how to shave properly after that.”

Bruce applied his aftershave then turned to look at Wally.

“Alright, Mr. West. How do I look?”

Wally smirked and leaned forward to run his fingers through Bruce’s wet hair.

“Devilishly handsome, Mr. Wayne.”

Wally watched as Bruce brushed his teeth next. 

When Bruce was done cleaning up and was finally looking a dozen times more put-together than when Wally had found him, Wally pulled Bruce into a loose hug. Bruce spoke into Wally’s hair. 

“I think I will take some time off from the League.”

Wally tensed against Bruce.

Bruce continued, “I am… unwell. I’m of no use to the League in my current state. And attempting to keep going as I have been will only make it worse. I think time off will be much needed.”

Bruce pulled away from Wally’s hug so he could look at him when he spoke next. 

“I will try not to leave you in the dark this time.”

“Will you call?” 

Wally didn’t even have Bruce’s number (though he was sure Bruce probably had his).

“I expect I’ll be in Gotham in my time off. Why don’t you come and visit?”

Wally looked at Bruce shocked.

“Are you serious?”

Every superhero that wasn’t Batman was “strongly encouraged” to stay out of Gotham unless given explicit permission from Batman himself. It wasn’t a strict ban, more like a guideline. It wasn’t like Bruce could keep Superman from dropping in whenever he wanted. But nonetheless, Superman the rest of League more or less respected Batman’s request. Including the Flash. Wally had never gone to Gotham when not on League business following Batman’s invitation. Wally had never seen the Wayne Manor. Or the wildflowers that grew on the lawns there. And despite how much Wally had longed to see the Manor and the wildflowers, he never asked. He figured Bruce would let him know when he was welcome there.

“I’m always serious.” Bruce said with a wry smile. “And I don’t see any reason why I couldn’t make an exception for you.”

“Okay.” Wally said, still reeling from the realization of what Bruce was saying. “Okay. I’ll visit.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it, Mr. West.”

——

After they made-out in the bathroom for a few minutes, they reentered Bruce’s bedroom. 

When Bruce got in his bed, Wally felt unsure about what to do next.

“Do you want me to stay?” Wally asked.

Bruce seemed unsure as well. “It might not be a great idea but, yes. I would like for you to stay.”

“Alright.”

So Wally turned off the light and let Bruce pull him under the covers with him, let him wrap his strong arms around his body, let him breathe deeply against his neck. Soon, Bruce was snoring softly beside him. 

——

Wally woke up to screaming.

Bruce’s screaming.

Wally knew immediately what was happening. Night terror.

Bruce and Wally had gone over — many times — about what Wally should do in the event of Bruce having a night terror. Wally knew the procedure by now.

But this night terror was different than the other ones Wally had seen Bruce have before. This one was somehow more intense.

Bruce was sitting upright in bed. His eyes were open, gaze locked on something in front of him. But Wally knew that Bruce’s mind wasn’t there with them at that moment. Bruce was locked in some dream reality, some nightmare that would send his body into full blown panic.

Bruce hadn’t stopped screaming since he first began. 

Wally placed a hand on Bruce’s shoulder, shook him lightly.

“Bruce.” Wally said, loud yet gentle. “Bruce you need to wake up. You’re dreaming right now. You need to wake up so you don’t accidentally hurt yourself.”

The sound of Wally’s voice seemed to spook Bruce however. Bruce knocked Wally’s hand away and shrunk back away from Wally.

Wally tried again.

“Bruce, you need to wake up.”

Then, something snapped within Bruce.

Wally found himself flat on his back on Bruce’s bed with Bruce’s hand closed around his throat. Above him was Bruce. But it wasn’t really Bruce. It wasn’t even really Batman. It was the embodiment of the darkness, the pain, the basic instinct and everything else that allowed Bruce Wayne to become Batman. Bruce -- Wally's Bruce -- was still asleep.

The hold on Wally’s throat was firm, but thankfully not full Batman-strength. But that knowledge, while useful, did little to calm Wally down.

“Bruce —” Wally tried to say but his voice had closed up of its own accord as his own survival instinct, his own panic began to sink in. 

Wally’s body started vibrating violently of its own will. His mind started screaming at him, louder than Bruce’s actual screaming. _You’re gonna die if you don’t anything you’re gonna die you have to do something. DO SOMETHING. ANYTHING._

Wally pushed Bruce.

However, Wally pushed much too hard.

Wally watched as Bruce went flying across the room. 

Then, with a loud sickening _CRACK_ sound, Bruce collided with the wall and slid to the floor.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10!!! What??? 
> 
> I've so enjoyed writing this story for all of y'all. I didn't expect this story to grow as much as it has when I started it initially, but I've loved the ride! All of your comments are so kind and lovely, they seriously keep me writing so, to each and everyone one of you: thank you <3
> 
> Also, there's quite a bit in this chapter that is going to be answered in later chapters. If it's confusing now, that's alright. Feel free to speculate however, I love reading y'all's theories.
> 
> As always, hope you all enjoy!

3 broken ribs.   
2 arm bone fractures.  
1 possible concussion.  
4 hours waiting.  
0 hours sleeping.  
144 tiles on the floor.   
39 tiles on the ceiling.  
12 cups of coffee.  
5 times asked, “How are you doing?”  
11 times asked, “Can you tell us what happened?”  
9 times told, “This would be easier if you’d cooperate with us.”  
6 nurses.   
8 ignored calls.  
17 unanswered texts.

Wally was sure he was going to go mad if he had to wait any longer.

Wally was back in the room as soon as he heard a commotion among the nurses on the other side of the door.

The nurses pushed Wally back, saying something about not upsetting the patient when the patient’s just woken up. Wally couldn’t pay attention to what they were saying to him because damn it Wally just wanted to get a look at him but the nurses were blocking Wally’s view. Wally was shoved back in the hall after a few moments of struggle. Back in the empty hallway, Wally slumped against a wall and sighed.

A short while later, a nurse popped his head out to tell Wally he could visit the patient now. The nurses filed out quietly as Wally stepped into the room.

Wally rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and shifted from foot to foot as he tried to find something to say.

“I — uh… I see that you’re awake.”

Bruce blinked at him.

“I wrote you some get-well-soon cards,” Wally said, gesturing to the large pile of cards that littered Bruce’s bedside table.

“I lost count after the first ten or so.” Wally continued. “I could never figure out what to say and I kept thinking I had gotten something wrong after I had written it so ummm well —” Wally started laughing nervously “— you know me, I just kept writing… Over and over and over again…”

Bruce pulled himself up in the hospital bed with a grimace.

“I wanted to get you a balloon but umm…” Wally trailed off, “Bats, I don’t think you should be doing that.”

Bruce was reaching for a button on the side of his bed. The movement seemed to pain him, however, judging from the look on his face. Bruce gave up after a moment and leaned back against the bed with deep heaving breaths.

“Can’t reach the morphine.” Bruce rasped out.

Wally was at Bruce’s bedside in a second, handing the button to Bruce.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

Wally watched for a few quiet moments as Bruce increased his morphine. Then, Wally turned to the pile of cards at the bedside table. He dug around until he could find the exact card he needed. When Wally returned to Bruce’s bedside, Bruce was already looking more relaxed. Less pained.

“I have a card I think you should read.” Wally said, handing the card to Bruce. “I think it’s probably the best one out of all the ones I made. Which is really saying something, because I drew a dinosaur in one of them.”

Bruce waved away the card, his eyes falling closed.

“Maybe later,” Bruce said drowsily.

Well, that wouldn’t work.

Wally pushed the card at Bruce again.

“I REALLY think you should read it.” Wally said, desperately hoping that the World’s Greatest Detective would be able to take a fucking hint — even with the whole concussion and morphine thing going on.

Bruce looked at Wally for a moment. Then, Bruce took the card with the hand of his good arm and opened it.

Wally knew the contents of the card by heart:

_  
B,_

_Don’t say anything. The room is bugged. (But you probably already know that because you probably bugged this room yourself)._

_Last night you had a night terror. I panicked and I overreacted and you got hurt. I understand if you hate me for this. I hate me for this, too. I’m sorry. (You can read the other 30+ cards to see exactly how sorry I am)._

_The League have been asking me a lot of questions about how you got hurt. I haven’t answered any of their questions and wasn’t going to until I had a chance to give you this card to catch you up. The questions have been turning more into interrogations. They don’t understand why I won’t say anything. Now that you’re awake, they’re going to start interrogating you, too. They’re starting to wonder if there’s foul play or if we’ve been compromised somehow. I’ve heard talks about them calling in J’onn to scan our minds. He’s not in the Watchtower right now so we might have a chance to decide something before he gets here but we’re running out of time._

_Whatever you decide to do, I’ll support you. Just tell me the plan.  
_

After a few minutes, Bruce closed the card and returned it to Wally.

“Thank you for the card, Flash.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“I seem to have misplaced my belt.” Bruce continued. “Would you mind fetching it for me?”

Wally couldn’t contain his grin.

“Sure thing, Batman.”

——

Wally was sliding in front of Batman’s door in no time at all. Wally took a moment to send up a quick prayer, hoping that Bruce wasn’t paranoid enough to have put security measures in place to account for people who could pass through walls. To test the waters, Wally set one of his hands vibrating at an intense speed. When he appeared to have achieved the correct amount of molecular vibration, Wally slowly phased the tips of his fingers through the door. Immediately, Wally pulled his hand back with a loud, “MOTHERFUCK.” 

Wally waved his injured hand in the air as he hopped up and down and muttered jumbled curses. The inside of the door was electrified. Because of course it was. Classic Batman.

Time for Plan B. Wally placed both hands against the door. Then, he steadily increased the vibration in his hands until he reached the right frequency to undermine the structural integrity of the door. The door broke apart from its frame and fell back into the room with a loud satisfying thud. Wally did the same to the locker where Bruce kept his equipment. 

Holding Batman’s utility belt was surreal. If Bruce hadn’t told Wally himself to get the belt, Wally would have felt unworthy to be touching it at all. 

Wally grabbed a pair of sweatpants for Bruce then turned on his heel and raced back to the med bay. A voice in the back of Wally’s mind told him that whatever crazy plan he was about to follow Bruce in could probably get him suspended from the League, but Wally pushed that thought aside. He was dating Batman, after all. Crazy plans simply came with the territory.

——

Bruce caught the utility belt with his good arm. His reflexes seemed to be a sharp as ever, even in his current condition. Bruce dug around in the pockets of the belt one-handed until he pulled out a small metal device.

“Take out your communicator and cover your eyes.” Was all the warning Bruce gave him before hitting a button.

With Wally’s eyes closed, he could only hear what sounded like all the electronics in the room either malfunctioning or exploding. 

“You can look.”

Wally did. The room was dark now. Wally watched Bruce’s silhouette as he pulled himself up in bed and slung the utility belt across his torso.

Bruce continued, “I set off a small EMP. They no longer have audio or visual on us, but they’ll send someone to investigate. We could simply call the League in here and explain the entire situation. But, as simple as that would be, I don’t want to talk to them and I don’t want to be here longer than necessary. I’m leaving the Watchtower. However, the League will think I’ve gone rogue and will enact security protocols to prevent me from leaving.”

Wally spluttered, “Wait, what? There’s security protocols for if you went rogue?”

“Yes and I made them,” Bruce said, “That’s why I need your help.”

“I’ll help. But what about afterward?”

“Hm?”

“After I help you break out. What happens then?”

“Then I will go home. What you decide to do then is entirely up to you. You could join me. Or you could not. I will not pressure you either way.”

Wally took a moment to let what Bruce was saying sink in. 

“Alright,” Wally answered, “I’m ready when you are.”

——

After discovering that Bruce was far too dizzy to stand on his own, let alone walk, Wally carried Bruce on his back piggy-back style. Then, after discovering that Bruce was far too nauseous to handle Wally’s normal speed, Wally slowed down to a light jog — a painfully slow pace for Wally, but still faster than most normal human speeds.

They didn’t encounter trouble until they were only a few floors away from the teleporters. Sirens began blaring as Wally turned down a hallway. Up ahead, the door at the end of the hallway began closing, locking down.

“Hey Bats. I can make it through the door if I speed up. Would that be alright?”

“Please don’t.” Bruce groaned. He sounded like he was going to be ill again just from the thought of it.

Wally kept his pace while he listened to Bruce fumbling with his utility belt behind him.

“Duck.” Bruce warned.

Wally ducked his head immediately. Ahead of him, Wally watched as a small device sailed through the air and attached itself to the door. The door stuttered then stopped moving.

“You have got to tell me how that works some time.” Wally said.

The door had closed enough that Wally couldn’t run underneath it with Bruce on his back. So, Wally gently helped Bruce off of his back and together they crawled through the gap. However, Wally was not expecting to find Wonder Woman on the other side. 

——

Wally looked up at Wonder Woman dumbfounded. He stood up from his position on the ground slowly. 

“Um, hey Wonder Woman. Fancy seeing you here, huh?”

Wonder Woman ignored Wally. She glared at Bruce with her arms crossed. 

“What are you doing?” Wonder Woman asked Bruce sharply.

Wally watched as Bruce’s eyes narrowed, his jaw tightened. 

“Batman. What are you doing.” Wonder Woman repeated.

“I’m taking my vacation time.” Bruce answered at last.

Wonder Woman jerked her head in the direction of Wally. “And him?” She asked Bruce.

Instead of answering, Bruce looked at Wally as if waiting for Wally to answer even though the question wasn’t directed towards him.

“I’m uhh…” Wally answered, “I’m taking my vacation time too?”

Wally hoped that was the correct response. He felt as though he had been thrust into a scene and was the only one to not have a script. Wally watched as Wonder Woman and Batman assessed each other for a few moments. Then, Wonder Woman’s expression softened and she stepped aside.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Bruce.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Diana.”

Then, Bruce got back onto Wally’s back.

But before Wally sped off, he heard Diana say, “Take care of him.”

Wally didn’t ask which one she was talking to. 

——

They didn’t run into trouble again for the rest of journey. In fact, they didn’t run into anyone at all. The Watchtower was suspiciously vacant the rest of the trip. Wally didn’t think long about it. 

At the teleporters, Wally waited as Bruce messed with the machine’s settings to take them to the right location. Wally wasn’t sure where they were going to go exactly, but Wally had long decided to trust Bruce in this and simply go along for the ride. 

“Was Wonder Woman a part of the security protocols you wrote?”

Bruce didn’t look up from the panel he was working at. Bruce was muttering curses as he struggled to change the settings one-handed. If Wally didn’t feel guilty every time he looked at Bruce’s cast, he might have been amused by the sight. Instead, Wally started to feel queasy and had to look away.

“No, she wasn’t.” Bruce answered. He didn’t elaborate.

“Are you going to tell me what all that was about earlier?”

Bruce cursed again at the machine and kicked it. 

“Later.”

“You’ll tell me later?”

“Yes,” Bruce said, exasperated, “I’ll tell you later.”

Wally dropped the subject.

Then, Wally said, “We’re going to have to have a long conversation about all of this. You know that right?”

Bruce paused in his work to look Wally in the eye as he answered, “Yes.”

There were few more minutes of fiddling with the settings until Bruce said, “Got it. Let’s go.”

Bruce began to stumble towards the teleporters on his own. Wally followed close behind. When Bruce looked like he was about to fall, Wally swooped in and grabbed Bruce around his side to hold him up. Together, they stumbled the rest of to the teleporters. As they stood on the platform waiting for the teleport to start, Wally held an arm around Bruce’s waist lightly, just in case Bruce needed the support.

“Have you decided you come with me?” Bruce asked.

Wally looked at Bruce confused. He thought the answer was obvious by now.

“Of course I’m coming with you.” Wally said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Bruce nodded slightly at Wally’s answer and said softly, “Good.”

Bruce leaned more of his weight against Wally.

Then, the teleport took them away.

——

They landed on a rooftop of a building in a heavily polluted urban area. Wally didn’t spent much time trying to figure out where they were as he was too busy watching Bruce. He had pushed away from Wally and stumbled for a few steps. 

Bruce seemed to have difficulty recovering from the disorientation from the teleport. However, he was still able to wave his arm at the city skyline and announce to Wally:

“Welcome to Gotham City.”

Then, Bruce hunched over and vomited on the rooftop. 

 

 _Home sweet Gotham_.


	11. Chapter 11

Being in Gotham was utterly surreal.

The entire city had a feeling of anxiety buzzing just under its surface, as if it was waiting to burst into chaos at any given moment. Wally felt more uneasy the longer he looked at the city. Gotham felt like it belonged in a different world, a different reality. The pollution made the back of Wally’s throat itch. The sounds of sirens and people shouting surrounded them on all sides. The shining skyscrapers felt like a bad joke when Wally looked at the reality that surrounded them — people sleeping in the streets, residential buildings in disarray, and a general feeling that the world had forgotten about the people of Gotham.

Wally guessed Gotham City was an acquired taste. It seemed to fit Bruce, though.

It was with a pang in his heart, however, when Wally realized that the Batman probably didn’t get parades in Gotham City like the Flash did in Central City. But, Wally doubted that Bruce would ever want a parade anyways.

——

Being at the Wayne Manor was even more surreal.

The gardens in the front of the Manor managed to be both beautiful and sad all at once. The topiaries and lawns were carefully maintained yet gave the impression that they were kept in such fine condition without the hope of ever being seen or appreciated by anyone other than the gardeners. The front porch was columned and framed the fanciest door Wally had ever seen in his life.

Wally rung the doorbell.

An old butler opened the door and promptly greeted Wally and Bruce with a disapproving glare.

“Hello, Alfred.” Bruce said, attempting a smile as he leaned against Wally for support.

Wally gave Alfred a small wave.

Alfred simply shook his head slightly and stepped aside to allow Wally and Bruce in. Once inside, Wally tried (and failed) to not balk at the entry hall. Wally was pretty sure that the entry hall alone was at least two-thirds the size of his entire apartment. And there was a chandelier. _A fucking chandelier. With real glass and shit._

Wally eventually snapped out of it and followed Bruce and Alfred as they stepped into a sitting room. Wally leaned against the doorway, afraid to sit on the fancy chairs. He watched as Bruce collapsed on a sofa and Alfred retrieved a first aid kit from a hidden compartment in a set of drawers.

“What’s injured?” Alfred asked as he put on medical gloves.

“Three broken ribs, two fractures in the right arm, and a possible concussion.” Wally recited from memory.

“Definite concussion.” Bruce corrected.

Alfred _tsked_ and pulled down Bruce’s hospital gown to examine his ribs and cast.

“Did you get hit by a truck again?” Alfred asked as he poked and prodded at Bruce’s skin.

“ _Again?_ Do you get hit by trucks often?” Wally blurted out.

Bruce gave a one-armed shrug, “It happens from time to time.”

Then, to Alfred, he said, “No, not a truck.”

Alfred nodded and, once he was satisfied with his examined, pulled off his gloves and stood up.

“You are off active duty, starting now.”

Bruce looked as if he was about to try to protest but Alfred simply glared at him and repeated, “Now.”

Bruce sighed.

Alfred then turned to Wally and asked, “Mr. West, how do you take your tea?”

Wally was taken aback. He didn’t remember introducing himself. 

“Lots of sugar, I guess.” Wally answered.

Alfred nodded and then quietly left the room. Which left Wally alone with Bruce.

“Won’t you sit down?” Bruce asked softly.

Wally moved from his spot at the door slowly. He dragged one of the fancy chairs from the side of the room to the couch where Bruce was lying. When Wally sat down, Bruce reached out with his good arm and offered his hand. Slowly, as if in a dream, Wally placed his hand in Bruce’s. Bruce laced their fingers together and squeezed gently. Bruce looked at Wally steadily.

“How are you doing?” Bruce asked after a moment.

Wally was surprised into nervous laughter, “I think that should be my line.”

Bruce chuckled, “I’m fine,” then, when Wally didn’t believe him, “Truly. I’ve had much worse injuries than this.”

Wally grimaced and looked away, “That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“I’m not upset with you, Wally.”

Wally tensed and pulled his hand away from Bruce’s, “You should be.”

“Why?”

Anger flared up inside Wally.

“ _Why?_ ” Wally spat out, facing Bruce again, “ _Why_ should you be mad at me? Bruce, I broke your fucking arm.” Wally pointed at Bruce’s cast for emphasis. “Your ribs are broken and you’re in a fucking cast and it’s my all my fault and now you’re sitting here all calm and shit like everything is just fine but IT’S NOT.”

“It is not your fault.”

“How can you even say that?”

Bruce’s jaw tightened and he pushed himself up so he was sitting on the sofa and facing Wally. Bruce’s eyes weren’t as dilated anymore.

“What else am I supposed to do, then?” Bruce asked coolly, “Do you want me to be mad? Do you want me to hate you? Cast you out?”

“Yes I do, yes — I guess, I mean I don’t know… I just think…” Wally stammered.

“I don’t want to do anything of the sort.” Bruce continued, “And I won’t. No matter how much you want me to. You were justified. You did what was necessary. I could have hurt you and stopped it. That’s exactly what I would have wanted you to do.”

“You couldn’t have hurt me though,” Wally protested, “Not really. I’d have been fast enough to stop it.”

Bruce’s eyes narrowed, “That’s not necessarily true and you know it.”

Wally fell silent.

“But you can’t possibly have wanted _this_.” Wally said at last, poking Bruce’s cast.

“If the alternative was bringing you to harm, then I would choose _this_ ” — Bruce waved his cast — “every damn time. So, whether or not you can forgive yourself, know that I have already forgiven you. And you will never be able to convince me to do otherwise.”

They looked at each other for a long quiet moment. Alfred took that opportunity to walk in with the tea. Grateful for a break in the tension in the room, Wally took his cup.

Once Wally was half-way through his first cup, Alfred asked expectantly, “Will you be joining us for dinner, Mr. West?” 

Wally got the feeling that he really shouldn’t say no to Alfred.

So, he said, “Of course.”

——

Dinner at the Wayne Manor was also (you guessed it) surreal.

They ate in the main dining room. The table was nearly twice as long as Wally’s bedroom. There was another chandelier. Bruce changed out of the hospital gown and into a sweater and slacks.

Alfred placed Bruce at the head of the table and Wally at Bruce’s left. Wally didn’t realize how hungry he was until he could smell the food in the kitchen. He had barely eaten as he waited for Bruce in the med bay, too ill with worry to eat. But once Alfred entered the room, Wally was dismayed to discover that he was presented with only one plate of food. Bruce noticed Wally’s trouble immediately and motioned for Alfred to come over. Wally heard Bruce whisper in Alfred’s ear, “He’s going to need at least ten more servings of the same size.”

Alfred’s eyes widened but he nodded and went back to the kitchen.

Wally and Bruce ate in a comfortable silence. Wally forced himself not to watch too long as Bruce fumbled with his silverware one-handed.

When Wally was done with his first plate and sat waiting for Alfred to bring his next ten, he cut into the silence in the room with, “So what happened earlier with Wonder Woman?”

Bruce drug his good hand over his face before starting.

“Clark, Diana, and I have an… understanding,” Bruce said at last, “They understand that there are times when I am… _unwell_ and thus unfit to fulfill my duties as needed. They check in on me if they sense if I am behaving out of the norm. Wellness checks. It can be aggravating at times, as I can never hide anything from Clark no matter how I try. But I find it is ultimately helpful and necessary.”

“Wait… Does that mean Clark knows about us?”

“Clark can hear a fly sneeze from the other side of the planet. Of course he knows about us.” Bruce said. “Fortunately, he has enough sense not to say anything about it. At least not to me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that he knew?”

Bruce raised an eyebrow, “I didn’t think it was necessary to. I thought you knew that he’d know. And, I had no expectation of being able hide our relationship from Clark. I don’t give a fuck what he thinks about us.”

Wally let that sink in for a moment. Alfred walked in with Wally’s additional servings of food. Wally vaguely wondered if you’re supposed to tip butlers or if that would be weird.

Bruce continued, “Clark and Diana had been checking in on me the past month or so. They encouraged me to take time off from the League, or Vacation Time as we refer to it. They know that I never technically take vacation time. They say the name is ironic or something like that.”

Wally felt ill. Clark and Diana checked on Bruce while Wally simply waited. _If he had checked on Bruce earlier instead of waiting so long, maybe he could have helped him. Maybe none of this could have happened. Bruce would have gotten help sooner. He wouldn’t be here with broken ribs and an arm in a cast._

“Why did we break out of the Watchtower?” Wally asked, trying to get out of his own thoughts.

“You broke us out and only now you’re asking?”

Wally shrugged, “I was just doing what you wanted to do. I trusted you to know what you were doing.”

Bruce assessed Wally’s answer for a moment before saying, “Thank you.”

Then, instead of addressing Wally’s confused expression, Bruce continued, “I was angry with how the League chose to respond to my situation.”

“ _Bruce_. I ran you to the Med Bay in our pajamas then refused to answer any questions for _six hours_. They were just following procedure.”

“Yes, and I don’t like the procedure.”

“Didn’t you write the procedure?”

“I probably did,” Bruce allowed. “But that does not change anything. They were going to bring in J’onn to scan our minds, which is _never_ part of the procedures that I approve of. That was an unnecessary and extreme response to the situation. I have made it perfectly clear again and again that I do not approve of nor consent to the use of mind reading on myself nor on anyone else on behalf. Now, if they truly desired to follow procedure, then they would have obeyed the security protocols I wrote in the event I went rogue. They did not follow protocol. Instead, they had everyone else of the Watchtower get out of our way. That is simply unacceptable. I could have destroyed the Watchtower if I so chose.”

“But you would never do that.”

“But I _could_. And that is why there are protocols for it.”

“Yeah, and I could take out the entire Watchtower if I felt like it and built up enough speed. Are you telling me there’s security protocols for that, too?”

Bruce was silent.

“Wait, _there are_?!”

Alfred took that moment as an opportunity to walk in with dessert.

——

After dinner, Alfred brought them coffee which Wally and Bruce promptly took outside to watch the sunset. They sat on a small metal bench on the back patio. At first, Wally kept some space between himself and Bruce, as if a single brush of their arms might make Bruce’s injuries worse. But Bruce laid his good arm on the top of the bench behind Wally. And Wally soon found himself leaning against Bruce’s side as Bruce’s good hand gently traced circles into Wally’s side.

“Are we good?” Wally asked.

“I think so,” Bruce answered, “What about you?”

“Yeah… I think so, too.”

Bruce kissed top of Wally’s head, muttered into his hair, “Good.”

Alfred stepped out onto the patio to refill their cups of coffee.

“Will you be spending the night with us, Mr. West?”

Wally smiled first at Bruce then at Alfred, “Of course.”

——

Alfred prepared one of the guest rooms for Wally.

At first, Wally considered offering to sleep with Bruce, but deep down Wally knew he wasn’t ready for that yet. Bruce seemed to know that too. He didn’t ask Wally and didn’t press the matter. He simply kissed Wally goodnight outside the door to the guest room.

“Goodnight.” Bruce whispered when they finally pulled apart.

“Night.”

Wally smiled to himself softly as he watched Bruce head down the hall to his own room.

_Maybe this actually can turn out alright._


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand we're back!
> 
> At first I wanted to give y'all a HUGE chapter to apologize for the ridiculous wait. But, I decided to give y'all the first part of the chapter so I could give you some new content earlier. This chapter picks up immediately after the last one.
> 
> We're getting closer to the end! Hope you all enjoy!

Wally was drug out of his slumber by a none-to-gentle shaking of his arm. Wally attempted to untangle himself from his sheets, limbs still heavy with sleep, as he turned to grumble at the person shaking his arm.

“Bruce?” Wally mumbled, eyes still closed.

“Nope.” Came the reply.

Wally shot upright in bed immediately, sheets going flying. 

A dark-haired kid was crouched at the side of the bed, smirking and looking rather pleased with himself.

“You’re Wally West, right? The Flash?” The kid asked.

Wally rubbed at the sleep still in his eyes and wondered how to best answer that particular question. Waking up to assassins or body snatchers or God-knows-what-else waiting by your bed couldn’t be that common of occurrence at Wayne Manor? _Right?_ Even so, Wally’s mind began to race with different ways to escape from or subdue this kid, if needed.

Wally settled on, “Who’s asking?”

The kid grinned even wider — as if he had known the answer to his question before he even asked it — and stuck out his hand. 

“Dick Grayson. Robin.”

Warily, Wally accepted the outstretched hand. Dick’s grip was firm, confident, and shook Wally’s hand enthusiastically.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Flash.”

“…Likewise.”

For a moment they assessed each other in silence until Dick asked, “Do you want to see the cave?”

——

The manor was mostly unrecognizable at night. It was entirely dark, with not a single light on in any of the numerous rooms. Moonlight spilled in from the windows, casting long dark shadows across Wally and Dick’s winding path through the manor. Wally felt uneasy walking through the manor — which already seemed dark and foreboding enough in the daylight — but Dick didn’t seem to notice or mind. He led Wally through the dark with ease, seemingly right at home.

Which, Wally guessed, was accurate.

Wally hadn’t really given a lot of thought to the whole kid thing. In an abstract way he understood that he was seeing Bruce and that Bruce was a person who had a kid. But Wally never really made the full connection in his mind that _he was seeing a person who had a kid._ Or that one day he might actually find himself attempting small talk with said kid in the dead of night. Which, was actually a really good question…

“Wait. What time is it?” Wally asked.

Dick shrugged and pulled a secret lever hidden in a bookcase, which then started to turn to reveal an elevator.

“4:00?” Dick guessed.

“Aren’t you tired or anything?”

Another shrug, “Not really.”

Wally stepped into the hidden elevator after Dick.

“Are you even supposed to be showing me this?”

Yet another shrug, “Probably not.”

——

“So… You and Bruce… How long have you been… _y’know_?"Dick wiggled his eyebrows to suggest the rest of the question.

If Wally had been drinking anything, he was sure he’d spit it out in shock. Wally could feel himself growing red in the face as he attempted to regain some of his composure. Dick just laughed at him. Dick was sitting at the large bat-computer, doing some kind of bat-business that Wally was not privy to. Earlier, he had given Wally a quick tour of the cave even though Wally tried to remind him, “I’ve been here before on League business, you know.”

Wally cleared his throat, “I’m uh… I’m not sure what you mean.”

Dick rolled his eyes and laughed, “Oh please. As if I wouldn’t know.” 

Some of the laughter faded from his face, however, as he slipped into a more serious expression. “I’m okay with it. In case you were wondering or worried about it. I give my approval or consent or permission or whatever. Not that either of you need it. But I just thought you should know: I’m good with this. It’s good. You’re good.”

“…Thanks.”

They maintained eye contact for a long moment until Wally began to feel put-off by the strength of Dick’s gaze and had to look away.

Wally shifted in his seat and searched for a change in topic.

“Why did you bring me down here?” Wally asked at last.

Dick paused his work at the bat-computer and turned to face Wally again.

“I’ve some questions for you. Superman, Wonder Woman, and I were trying to get Bruce to take time off for the past month, for reasons I’m sure you’re familiar with. Did you know about that?”

“I… just knew that Bruce was having a…” how do you even say this “… rough time? I tried to check in with him, tried to see how he was doing, but he shut me out. I only just started seeing him again. I didn’t know all of you were trying to get him to take time off. I was not included in that.”

Dick nodded, appearing to take in his answer.

“Has he been taking his medication?”

Wally swallowed. “I don’t know.”

Dick sighed and drug a hand over his face and muttered to himself something that sounded to Wally a bit like, “And now of fucking course he shows up looking like he got hit by a truck again.”

Wally felt a great feeling of unease begin to bubble up inside of himself. _But it wasn’t a truck. It was me. Are you sure you’re okay with this?_ He really had no idea what he was supposed to do or say in this situation. Luckily, he didn’t have to figure it out as the sound of a person clearing his throat behind them announced the arrival of the very man in question, Bruce Wayne himself. Wally and Dick shot up from their respective chairs immediately.

“You should really be resting, B.” Said Dick, walking towards Bruce. Wally hung back by the bat-computer.

“And you should really be asleep, young man. It is way past your bed time.”

Dick gestured back at the bat-computer and said, “Yeah well, I’ve been having to take care of some things seeing as you decided to get hit by a truck again.”

“It wasn’t a truck this time.”

Dick laughed harshly, “Well that’s just so much better, isn’t it.” 

Then, Wally saw Dick’s expression soften as he went to gently hug Bruce on his good side, mindful of his broken ribs.

“You really scared the shit out of me.” Dick muttered against Bruce.

Wally saw Bruce tense slightly, the same way he always does when he gets hugged, but eventually he relaxed and patted the top of Dick’s head awkwardly.

“Language. And I’m sorry.”

Dick pulled back. He looked at Wally and then at Bruce and then back again before saying, “I guess I should uh… go get some sleep, yeah?” Before heading out of the cave. He threw a wave back at Wally with a, “Bye Flash!” on his way out. Then, it was just Wally and Bruce left in the cave.

“So…” Wally started, at a loss on how to break up this silence.

“I see you’ve met Dick.” Bruce said.

“Yeah. He seems like a really good kid.”

Bruce smiled softly, “He is.”

Wally smiled back, simply happy to see Bruce happy about something.

“How are the ribs? And arm? And head? And… everything?”

Bruce gave a one-armed shrug, “I’ve had worse.”

“You know that isn’t really an answer, so cut the crap and answer the question.”

Bruce held Wally’s gaze for a few terse moments before sighing and admitting, “Everything hurts. A lot. And I came down here to get the next round of pain medicine because it wore off about an hour ago.”

“Why couldn’t you just say that.”

“I’m always injured in one way or another. It’s not exactly important news.”

Wally felt his hackles rise at that.

“Of course it’s important, Bruce. Even if it’s not important to you, it’s important to me because I’m your _fucking **boyfriend**_ and you don’t need to be going through this on your own like some _self-sacrificing jackass_!”

Both Bruce and Wally froze at what Wally said.

_Boyfriend boyfriend boyfriend boyfriend boyfriend_

“I… I —” Wally stammered, eyes wide.

_Please don’t fuck this up don’t fuck this up don’t fuck this up_

Bruce stepped closer until he was the only thing Wally could see. Bruce’s good hand cupped the side of Wally’s face and tilted Wally’s head up gently.

“Okay,” was as all Bruce said before he bent down to kiss Wally softly.

——

“How often do you get hit by trucks, anyway?”

Bruce glanced up from where he was cutting his pain medicine and chuckled, “Often enough.”

Wally watched as Bruce gulped down a glass of water to chase down his medicine. When Bruce set the glass down, Wally cleared his throat and asked, “Have you been taking your medicine?”

Bruce shook the medicine bottle, making a soft rattling noise, “Obviously.”

“That’s — uh — “ Wally laughed nervously, “Not what I meant.”

Bruce gave Wally a long, assessing look. “Why do you ask?”

“Because Dick asked me. And I didn’t know the answer. And I feel like it’s a question I should probably know the answer to.”

Bruce sighed and put away his medicine in the cabinets. He moved slower than usual, probably to put off actually answering Wally’s question. Wally wasn’t going to have that.

“Bruce?” Wally asked.

“I really don’t like being asked that.” Bruce responded at last.

“And I really don’t like having my questions dismissed.”

Bruce narrowed his eyes at Wally, “Why don’t you trust me?”

Wally simply blinked at Bruce a few times as if it would make Bruce take the question back.

“What the fuck kind of question is that.”

“You say you trust me then you outright ask me if I’ve been taking my medicine because you don’t trust me enough to have been taking it.”

“That is _not_ why I asked and you know it.”

“Yeah? Then why did you?”

“YOU ALREADY KNOW WHY. Because I care! You’ve been going through some real shit lately. You even said it yourself: this episode is the worst you’ve had in years. You didn’t talk to me for weeks. You’ve worried the shit out of me and Clark and Diana and Dick and Alfred. You had the most terrifying night terror I’ve ever seen you have. And then you thought it was a grand idea to use an EMP in the medical bay and break out of the Watchtower because you didn’t want to talk to our coworkers.”

“And you thought it was a grand idea to follow me.”

“Like I would let you get your dumb concussed ass killed trying to break out by yourself?" Wally laughed, "You still haven’t answered the question.”

Bruce stayed quiet.

Wally continued, softer, “Look. I just want to know because if we’re going to be in this together — really together — then this is the kind of shit that I should know about.”

“Yes, okay?” Bruce answered, exasperated. “I’ve been taking my medicine. Every day. _As prescribed_. And you know what? The medicine doesn’t fucking work. The side effects were hell so I got moved to different medications on lower doses. And it’s not even close to touching the symptoms right now. But I’m trying, okay? And the least you could do would be at least trust me enough to know that while I might be crazy, I’m still sane enough to not _want_ to be.”

“You’re not crazy.”

Bruce huffed out a breath and looked away from Wally. 

“Bruce. You’re not crazy.” Wally repeated. “You’re sick. You’re sick and you do some crazy shit sometimes, but you’re not crazy. I have never once thought of you as crazy and I never will.”

But Bruce still wasn’t looking at him, “Well, that makes one of us.”

Wally was at a loss for words.

“You know they call me batshit? In the League?” Bruce asked, facing the wall. Then in a harsh nasally tone, “ _Watchout! Don’t get on his bad side! The Batman’s gone batshit again_!”

“I — I…” _Wally didn’t know_.

“If I wasn’t so selfish, I would have told you to leave months ago. To save yourself the trouble.”

Wally couldn’t help but laugh at that.

Bruce finally looked over at Wally at that, “What?”

“Bruce. I wouldn’t have left even if you told me to. I still won’t.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, you big dummy. I’m not going anywhere.” Wally said, “I’m sorry I pressed you about your medicine and I’m sorry I seemed like I didn’t trust you. I just want to be able to help you, in any way that I can. I hope you can understand that.”

Bruce looked at Wally for a long moment, “I don’t deserve you.”

Wally shrugged and grinned, “Maybe not. And yet, you have me anyways. And like it or not, I’m here to stay.”

“This will probably happen again.”

“Then we’ll figure out how to deal with it, okay?”

Bruce rubbed the back of his neck with his good hand, as if thinking of how to respond.

“Okay?” Wally asked again.

“Okay.” Bruce answered.

——

Wally walked Bruce back to his bedroom. And, after Wally helped Bruce settle into bed, when he made to leave, Bruce grabbed Wally’s wrist lightly.

“I’d like for you to stay. If… If that’s okay with you.” Bruce asked.

Wally smiled, “Of course.”

So, Bruce drifted off to sleep. And Wally stayed with him in bed and ran fingers through Bruce’s hair and watched as the sunrise began to peek out around the corners of Bruce’s blackout curtains.

And into the darkness Wally mouthed the words, _I love you_ , again and again, hoping that they could reach Bruce in his sleep.

——

Wally couldn’t have drifted off for longer than a few moments (at least it felt like it) before he heard some light knocking on Bruce’s bedroom door. Then, Wally heard Dick’s voice, muffled through the door:

“Uh, hey Bruce? Superman is here. And he doesn’t look too happy.”


End file.
